Changing Pace
by hotpinkkindagirl23
Summary: Bella had lived for fourteen years as a regular kid. She was well-liked and did well in school. A tragedy strikes and forces Bella to regroup and adjust to a whole different way of life. With the help of her family and friends can she overcome it? AH/OOC
1. Chapter 1

Marilyn Monroe once said "I believe everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together." And most people in my situation would tell you that's a piece of bull shit. But I can't think like that. If I do, I'll loose it. And if I loose it, it's all going to be actually happening.

If I had to use one word to describe what happened to change my life so drastically, I would use the word unreal. No. This could not _possibly_ be happening to me. As I relived the night, it seemed surreal, like an out-of-body experience. I can't believe I was so selfish. I knew that my mom was sick, but I pushed her anyways. If it wasn't for me and my stupid choir concert, none of this would have happened.

I could hear people rushing about and yelling. I could hear a really annoying beeping noise that seemed to be in a flat tone. Once I felt the paddles go over my heart, I knew that I was at the hospital and that the flat beeping noise was my heart rate. I was dead.

All at once, I was no longer laying in a bed. I was sitting alone in the empty hallway waiting. For what, I don't know. But I'm nervous. I watched as people passed me by. I watched as they unloaded two people out of the back of an ambulance. My parents. The doctors were running around and I heard all the machines flat lining like they did for me, and there was shouting. All I could focus on was the faces of my parents. They looked so very pale. Lifeless.

_No! They can't be dead! The doctors will save them! They're not dead! _

Even though my head was shouting at me that this could not be true, my heart knew better. It was shattering into a million pieces. They were gone.

As quickly as it happened, I was laying down again, in the dark. My head was pounding, feeling like it was about to split open, and my ribs ached like a bitch, but still I was still there.

Beep… beep…. Beep….. beep…..

A steady beat that was my life was set. I was alive. They weren't. And it was all my fault.

After awhile of not moving, I was aware that I was being pushed somewhere.

"Oh, god! Bella, baby. Can you hear me? Bella? I'm here. Everything's okay." I heard a familiar voice that I loved from my right. Uncle Jasper. He was a college student at The University of Texas at Austin and was my mother's brother. He was more of a cousin or friend than an uncle, though. We'd always been close. His voice and his words comforted me, even though I knew that everything, was in fact, not okay. Nothing was. But I let myself relax as I felt his rough hands cup my cheek and his lips on my forehead.

"Yes, I do think that she can hear you. She's in a coma for the moment. It's her brains way of protecting itself." Another deep voice came from my left, who I could only assume was my doctor.

"Bella, sweetheart, will you please try to open your eyes for me?" Jasper pleaded.

_I'll try. But my eyes are so heavy. _

I tried and each time I did, the light that I could dimly see behind my eyelids was becoming brighter. I took that as a good sign and kept trying. As I finally fully opened my eyes, I was surprised at how very bright the light really was. I was momentarily blinded and stunned, as I let my eyes adjust.

"Welcome back, Miss. Swan."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I didn't really get the response that I wanted from this story, and I was getting a little frustrated. Then I realized that of coarse I didn't get a billion reviews (I was definitely not expecting a billion reviews, I promise!)! I've just put up one chapter so far! So here is the second chapter. Let me know what you think!**

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Previously…

"_Yes, I do think that she can hear you. She's in a coma for the moment. It's her brains way of protecting itself." Another deep voice came from my left, who I could only assume was my doctor. _

"_Bella, sweetheart, will you please try to open your eyes for me?" Jasper pleaded. _

_I'll try. But my eyes are so heavy. _

_I tried and each time I did, the light that I could dimly see behind my eyelids was becoming brighter. I took that as a good sign and kept trying. As I finally fully opened my eyes, I was surprised at how very bright the light really was. I was momentarily blinded and stunned, as I let my eyes adjust. _

"_Welcome back, Miss. Swan."_

* * *

**Earlier that Day**

JPOV

"Hey, Em! Door!" I yelled, hearing someone pounding on the door. I was just getting out of the shower to get ready for football. I was the starting quarter back for my college team, and tonight we had an away game against a school in Seattle. We crushed them last year, but rumor has it that they have gotten better. It's a good thing we have too.

"Kay!" was the only response I got. Emmett McCarty was one of my best friends. He was on the team with me and he was a linebacker. He lived with me in an apartment off campus. But at the moment, we were staying in a hotel in Seattle with the rest of the team.

The banging stopped as, I assume, Emmett answered the door. "Finally! What took you so long?" Enter Edward Mason. He was also one of our best friends who lived with us. "You guys ready to go? Coach wants us there in ten."

"Yeah, we're ready." I answered, grabbing my keys and phone before heading out the door.

When we got there, most of the team was already there. As we went through the routine we always did before a big game, my phone started to go off. I looked at the Caller I.D.

_Renee Cell_

My sister.

Great.

Don't get me wrong, I love my older sister to pieces, but she doesn't act like she's older than me. She always wants me to talk to her and tell her everything about my life, and I just didn't have time for that at the moment. I hit ignore and sent it to voicemail. I would call her back, later.

I had grown up with my mom and my dad. Renee was already married and had a kid who was by the time I was graduating high school. My parents died last year, the That brings me to Charlie. He was a good, honest guy who loved my sister more than anything. You could see it in the way he looked at her. They were good together. They balanced each other out. Where Charlie was maybe a little too uptight about things, Renee was a free spirit that didn't have a care in the world.

Bella.

Isabella Marie Swan was just about the best kid anyone could ask for. She was a good student, she had a lot of friends, and she was the sweetest girl ever. She was probably one of my favorite people in the world. I hadn't really known her when she was little, up until she was about 12. Renee kind of kept us separate from her life. Renee and Charlie were traveling Europe for the summer, so they shipped Bella off to come stay with my dad and I at the ranch. We had a great summer and got really close then.

I didn't really know why Renee was calling, because she never called, but I couldn't think about that now. I had a game to play. I pushed all my thoughts of my family into the back of my mind and focused on winning our game.

After four gruesome quarters, the game finally ended with us up, 20-17. After celebrating with the team and making our way back to the locker rooms, I checked my phone. I was waiting on a call from this girl I had met before the game. She was going to call so we could go out for drinks later, and I was hoping to get lucky tonight. I noticed I had 17 missed calls from Renee and 3 from Bella.

_Shit. _

Something must be wrong. Renee wouldn't call me _17 fucking times _if nothing was wrong. I quickly showered and got my stuff together, not knowing if I was going to have to rush out of here once I found out. I dialed Bella's number first, hoping to talk to her instead of Renee. Seeing that she called 17 times, she would probably be pissed that I hadn't answered.

"_Hello?" _a male voice said on the other end of the line. _What the fuck? _

"Yeah, hi. Do I have the wrong number? Is Bella there?" I asked, confused and a little pissed that some, obviously older, man was answering my nieces phone.

"_Is this Jasper Whitlock?" _he asked, sounding very official. I was starting to get really nervous about what was going on.

"Yes."

"_I'm very sorry to inform you that there has been an accident…" _

No. Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"Is Bella there? Is she okay? What's going on?" I asked. I was way past nervous. I was full blown panicking and it was obvious in my voice.

"_Well, you see, there was a car accident earlier this evening and your sister, Renee Swan and her husband Charles Swan were killed. Isabella Swan was severely injured and is undergoing multiple surgeries at the moment. She's in critical sondition. It's pretty touch-and-go at the moment. We're trying our hardest to do everything we can." _

"Wait a minute. My sister died? Renee Swan? Charles Swan? Are you sure it's the same people as my sister and brother-in-law?" I knew that it was them, but I was grasping at straws here. How could this have happened? I asked just that. "How the hell did this happen?"

"_The police report says that there was a drunk driver who ran a red light and hit your sister's car and Charles, who was driving, died on impact. Bella was sitting on the drivers side in the back seat, but was believed to be awake until after the EMT's had gotten Renee and Charles out. She then lost consciousness and hasn't woken up since. Renee died on the way to the hospital. I'm very sorry for your loss." _

"Is Bella going to be okay?" I asked. Obviously, I was very upset and sad that Renee and Charlie died, but I couldn't just focus on that. I had to know what was going on.

"_We're going to do everything we can. I'm sorry we had to call so many times, but since Bella has no other living relatives, we had no choice." _

No other living relatives…. No living relatives…. Just me and her…. No one else…..

"Yeah, of coarse. Sorry I didn't get back to you, sooner. I'll pack some stuff and be on my way right now." I said, thanking god that I was only about 3 hours away rather than the 36 hours it would have taken me to get there if I was in Texas.

"_Thank you. I am really very sorry for your loss. The Swans were great people. Very nice and well liked. And Bella is just about the sweetest girl I've ever met. I will personally keep an eye on her until you get here." _The doctor said. As he was saying this, I realized that I had no clue who I was speaking to, and how they knew the Swans.

"Thanks. Can I ask who I'm speaking to, please?" I said, trying to be polite while I shoved all my stuff into a bag. As I was zipping up the bag, Emmett and Edward walked into the hotel room.

"What the hell, man! Where are you going? We're going to go party!... what's wrong?" Emmett boomed walking over to me, but stopped when he saw my face.

"_Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I'm Dr. Stevens. My son is good friends with Bella, and I think of her as a daughter, myself, so she is in good hands." _

"Okay, thank you, Dr. Stevens. I'll be there in about three hours." I said. We said out goodbyes and hung up. I looked up into the questioning faces of Emmett and Edward.

"What's going on?" Edward asked.

"My sister and her husband just died in a car accident. My niece is in critical condition at the hospital. I have to go." I summarized as I made my way out the door. They followed and we continued to talk as we walked through the parking garage.

"Man, that's rough. Are you okay? Do you want us to go with you?" Edward, always the sensitive one, asked.

"No, I'm good. Hey, guys, do you think that I could bring my niece to live with us?" Both of them made faces, but tried to hide them quickly. "I'm all she has left now. And she's all I have too."

"Yeah, sure man. Of coarse. Drive safe." Edward said as we made it to the car.

"I will. Tell coach what happened and that I won't be at practice tomorrow." I said. I shut the door before I could get an answer, and I pulled out of the garage, on my way to see the only family I had left.

I made a three hour drive in two. As I walked into the waiting room, I noticed a group of boys looking about 14 or 15 sitting in the corner with their parents. I went straight up to the receptionist and told her who I was. She pointed me in the right direction, and as I walked through the doors, I saw her. She looked like hell. She was being wheeled towards the ICU, so I assumed that she had just gotten out of surgery.

I have to say, I'm a pretty tough guy, and not many things can break me and make me cry, but seeing my baby niece laying up in a hospital bed with tubes and needles everywhere was one of them. Before I knew it, I was beside the doctors and the gurney they were pushing her on.

"Oh, god! Bella, baby. Can you hear me? Bella? I'm here. Everything's okay." I managed to sob out.

We were in the room now, and they parked her bed and were updating her charts and everything. I leaned down and cupped her cheek and kissed her forehead.

"Yes, I do think that she can hear you. She's in a coma for the moment. It's her brains way of protecting itself." The doctor standing on the other side of her answered my question. I nodded my head, showing that I understood him, but didn't take my eyes off Bella.

"Bella, sweetheart, will you please try to open your eyes for me?" I pleaded, fully aware how weak I sounded but not really giving a fuck.

I watched as her eyes started to flutter a little bit, almost like she was trying to open her eyes. After about five minutes, the last doctor, Dr. Stevens, was about to leave us alone in the room, when her eyes fluttered open.

"Welcome back, Miss. Swan." Dr. Stevens said.

_Thank the Lord._

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**A/N: Review, review review! PLEASE! Sorry it might be bad. Anyone interested in being a Beta for this story? That would help a lot! Also, there's a poll on my profile about who Bella should get together with. Go look at the options and VOTE! :) If the pairing that you want is not there, message me or just review or something and we'll see... THANKS!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Last time, I updated at like one in the morning, and I didn't get the response I was hoping for. So I'm going to start updating at normal times… :P Okay… well here it is… **

_Previously…_

"_Yes, I do think that she can hear you. She's in a coma for the moment. It's her brains way of protecting itself." Another deep voice came from my left, who I could only assume was my doctor. _

"_Bella, sweetheart, will you please try to open your eyes for me?" Jasper pleaded. _

_I'll try. But my eyes are so heavy. _

_I tried and each time I did, the light that I could dimly see behind my eyelids was becoming brighter. I took that as a good sign and kept trying. As I finally fully opened my eyes, I was surprised at how very bright the light really was. I was momentarily blinded and stunned, as I let my eyes adjust. _

"_Welcome back, Miss. Swan."

* * *

_

BPOV

"Uncle Jasper? What happened? Where am I?" I mumbled out as I took in my surroundings.

_No. It was all a dream…. More like nightmare… _

_Well then where am I?_

"Oh, Bella. Sweetheart, do you remember the car accident?" Jasper asked, desperate. And all of a sudden I knew that I would really have to face this now. It hadn't been a dream.

"Yeah." I answered in a small voice. "Yeah, I remember."

_I know the car accident was real but…._

"Uncle Jazz? Where are my parents?" I asked, fearing the answer. The look on his face said everything that needed to be said.

"I'm so sorry, Ladybug." I heard Dr. Stevens at the foot of my bed and turned my attention to him. He, too, had the look. "They're gone." He finished in a whisper. Dr. Martin Stevens was the father of my friends James and Laurent. They were like a second family to me. Martin had called me "Ladybug" since I was just a little kid.

I nodded in acknowledgement and closed my eyes to take it all in. It's one thing thinking you're right. It's a whole different ball game it actually being confirmed.

_What now?

* * *

_

JPOV

The next week and a half, I spent at Bella's bedside, talking to her and grieving with her. She was supposed to stay in the hospital for four days and then she would be free to go home.

_Home. Where is her home? Do I move here? Or does she move in with me? _

After talking with Bella, we decided that once she got out of the hospital, we would stay at her house for a month so we could sell the house and she could finish her school year and then she would be moving in with me and the guys when the summer started. I was staying at her house right now, and I couldn't handle walking into Renee and Charlie's room. How was she going to handle that?

"Hey, Bell? I'm going to step out for a minute to call my roommates real quick. Okay?" I told her.

"Yeah, okay. I'm not going anywhere." She joked, making me laugh quietly.

"Fair enough. Do you need anything while I'm out?"

"No, I'm good. But thanks." She replied, turning her attention back to T.V where she was watching Law and Order Special Victims Unit.

I walked out of the hospital and turned on my phone. I wasn't supposed to have it on inside, and I hadn't checked it since I got here. I was surprised to see that I had a bunch of texts from team members and my coaches telling me how sorry they were for my loss. Also 13 missed calls and 11 voice mails from "Home."

I typed in a quick response and forwarded it to the whole team, saying how I appreciated their messages and that I would hopefully be back in a month or so. Then I decided to call Em and Edward.

_Here goes…_

"_Hello?"_ a lazy voice on the other end answered.

"Em, it's me."

"_Jasper! The long-lost best friend. What the hell happened to you man? You left the other night to take care of your niece and totally disappeared off the face of the earth." _

"Yeah, sorry about not calling. Just busy with the funeral details and being with my niece in the hospital." I answered, a little sharply. I know I probably should have called, but it's not like I wasn't doing important stuff.

"_Yeah, I know, man. Sorry. Just call next time, 'kay? Eddie, over here, was about to have a heart attack when you never called." _He said apologetically.

"Got it, got it. I'll call more. So anyways… umm… here's the plan. I'm going to stay here for a month so that Bella can finish school and we can sell their house, and then I'll move her back home first week of summer. Is that still cool with you guys? I know it's a lot to ask, but she really is like, the coolest kid. We could turn the "weight room" that we have never used once, into her bedroom."

"_Yeah, it's cool with me. You'll have to ask Eddie, but I don't think that he'd have a problem with it." _

"Awesome. Thanks, man. I owe you one."

"_Umm… you owe me like, three." _Came his reply. Yup. That's Emmett for you…

"Okay, well tell Edward hi and sorry for me, but I need to get back in. Talk to you later?"

"_Yeah, sure. Bye." _

_Man, this was going to be a long month._

EMPOV

I got off the phone with Jasper and walked into Edward's room. I picked up his sneaker from the floor and threw it at his head. "Get up lazy ass." I commanded.

"Don't yell so loud." Mr. hung-over moaned.

"Fine. I guess I won't tell you what Jazz said, then." I taunted.

"Jazz called? What did he say? How's his niece?" he responded, only a little bit more awake.

"Yeah, she's fine. Jazz is going to stay with her up there until school gets out for her, and then they'll both move back here." I filled him in.

"Oh." Was all I got in return.

"Yeah."

"So… what are we going to do with a fourteen year old girl living with us?" he asked.

I had been thinking about that since he asked us. Jasper was one of our best friends and we would do anything for him, but what the hell were we supposed to do with a fourteen year old girl? We wouldn't be able to bring girls home anymore, which wasn't a big deal because I had a rule about that. We wouldn't be able to sit on our couch and get totally smashed on the weekends anymore.

Both Edward and I were only children. We had no experience with kids whatsoever. Yeah, she wasn't like, going to need her diapers changed or whatever, but she was still a kid. And this kid had just lost her parents and was probably going to be depressed or something. Would we have to like, babysit her all the time, or what?

"Yeah. I have no clue." I answered.

_What have we gotten ourselves into? _

**Sorry if it's bad, but I just wanted to get an update out there. I'm just trying to move the story along so I can get it to where I want it to be. :P Okay, well, REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW PLEASE! Thanks so much! 3 **


	4. Chapter 4

Previously...

_Both Edward and I were only children. We had no experience with kids whatsoever. Yeah, she wasn't like, going to need her diapers changed or whatever, but she was still a kid. And this kid had just lost her parents and was probably going to be depressed or something. Would we have to like, babysit her all the time, or what?_

_"Yeah. I have no clue." I answered._

_What have we gotten ourselves into?

* * *

_

JPOV

The next month passed by in a blur. One minute, I was checking Bella out of the hospital and taking her home, the next, I was sitting next to her bawling on the floor of her parents bedroom.

I had never stayed the night in the hospital with her, I always came home after she had gone to sleep and gotten there really early the next morning. That meant that I had no clue about the nightmares.

She had nightmares almost every night. The first time I woke up to her blood curdling shriek, I thought there was someone in her room trying to kill her. But then she kept saying, "No, mom, dad! Don't go! Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry!"

It absolutely broke my heart. Not to mention almost gave me a heart attack. But as time went on, I got more and more used to it, and now I would barely wake up when she did.

Two weeks after she got home, the house sold, so we had to start packing things up. We packed up everything in the house, selling most of it to a second hand furniture store. That brings us to now.

We had everything packed... except Renee and Charlie's room. Honestly, I think it was still too soon to be going through their stuff, but we didn't have much of a choice. We had to be packed up and out of the house in two days and we hadn't even glanced at their door since the accident. But now here we are, sitting on the floor in their bedroom going through everything that we wanted to keep and save and give away.

"Uncle Jazz, can we please be done? I don't want any of their furniture or clothes or anything. Just maybe one of my dad's t-shirts and my mom's jewelry. And my dad's badge. But everything else can go." Bella sniffled out, trying to compose herself enough to take care of the stuff in the room.

"Yeah, of coarse, baby girl. Let's just get the things that you want, and then we'll have the moving guys come and get the rest of it." I told her. There was a little more than that that needed to be done, like cleaning out the closet and putting everything in boxes, but I didn't want her to have to do that. It was really hard for me, and they weren't even my parents. I wasn't too close with Renee or Charlie, but they were both good people, and they were family.

We finished up getting her things together, and put the things that she wanted to keep in a box that was going to be moved to my house. We weren't bringing any furniture with us. One of our neighbors who I hadn't really spoken to before was apparently an interior designer and had a whole teenage girl room designed for a catalog. After the pictures and everything were taken, she still has the furniture, so she said that we could have it for free and she would help paint the room, too. I know that Bella's favorite color is blue, so that would be a pretty safe bet, but I don't want to assume anything. It's been awhile since I've hung out with Bella, so it would be better to just wait for her to pick out the colors herself.

As far as the school thing went, I didn't really know what to do. She was going to be a freshman in high school this coming school year, so I knew that I would have to enroll her in school, but which one? There were a bunch of private schools in the area, along with a public school. I certainly wasn't worried about money. Renee and Charlie were loaded! They had a really expensive house, plus the insurance policy that they had left everything to Bella's name. She was probably a millionaire, easily. Charlie came from a really wealthy family, so he already had a couple million dollars when they had Bella. And Bella has a handsome college fund, and a nice looking bank account. Which, if you ask me, is way too much for a fourteen year old, but hey, who was I to judge.

* * *

I blinked, and all of a sudden, it was Saturday. I woke up to the monotone drone of my alarm.

_Great. Moving day. _

I was anxious to get home, but I was worried about Bella. She seemed fine. Actually, she seemed way too fine, all things considered. After the initial shock wore off, she didn't really cry about it. Not counting the mini-melt down when we were going through her parents things, she hadn't really shown any signs that the past month had affected her at all. If it weren't for the nightmares, I wouldn't even know how deeply troubled she was. It was just a matter of time when she broke down, and I could only hope that I would be there for her when it happened.

I was dragged from my thoughts when all of a sudden, my alarm stopped.

_Hmm..._

I rolled over, to face the clock, and saw Bella snuggled down with a pillow over her head, obviously trying to get back to sleep after the disturbance was taken care of. I had slept on the floor in my guest room, and Bella was supposed to have slept in a make-shift bed on her floor, too. It was not uncommon for her to crawl into bed with me when the nightmares were really bad. I didn't mind, really, I just felt badly that I hadn't even realized that she came in last night. I put an arm around her and pulled her closer.

"Bell, it's time to wake up, sweetheart." I tried to take the pillow away from her face. All I got was a half-assed grunt in return. "Isabella. Don't make me get ice." I threatened, making a slight smile appear on her face. Probably remembering the summer she stayed with us, when she didn't believe me, and I actually poured a bucket of ice on her.

"Okay, okay. I'm up. What do we have to do today to be ready to move? Isn't everything done?" she asked.

"Yeah, almost everything's done. We just need to clean up our beds, and do a final check of the house. I know we think we got everything out of the attic when we went through the stuff, but it wouldn't hurt to check. Everything needs to be gone." I responded, mentally making a list of what we needed to get done.

_Beds._

_Checking the house. _

_Saying bye to Bella's friends. Who I didn't like, by the way. _She was good friends with a group of boys. She had a few girl friends, but not good ones. I don't think that she was too heart broken about leaving any of them. It was Dr. Steven's kids and their buddies that she was sad to leave. Laurent, James, Alec, Felix, and Demetri, I think their names were. They treated her alright, but I still didn't like that she was hanging out with boys.

_Pack what few boxes we were bringing into the car_

_Check house again_

_Leave by 2._

Although Bella didn't want to keep much, there were quite a few things that you don't just give away after your parents die. There were boxes of letters from her dad to her mom that we had yet to go through, some old boxes of pictures and videos, baby books, baby pictures, some old clothes, ext. You know, the kinds of things that you can't part with. They were all going to be put in a moving truck, and put in a storage unit. The Swans had a pretty big house... okay, it was freaking huge... and so there was a lot of things that we couldn't take with us. None of the furniture and not a lot of her clothes were coming with us. She would have to go shopping for new clothes, anyways. She had clothes that were fit for Forks. So pretty much just sweaters, jeans, t-shirts, and sweatshirts. Texas was a whole different ball game. She was going to need jeans, short-sleeved and long-sleeved shirts, shorts, tank tops, bathing suits, everything. I don't really know how I'm going to go shopping for a girl, but maybe I can just take her out for the bare minimals, and then wait for her to get some girl friends to take her shopping.

_What are we going to do? _

That thought kept running through my head. Emmett, Edward and I were good guys, but we had no clue when it came to raising a teenage girl. After they brought up that point, I really started to think about it. This wasn't her coming to stay with me for the summer. This was her living with me. For forever.

_Holy shit. _

While I was very nervous and apprehensive about raising Bella, I knew without a doubt that it was what I had to do. This had definitely not been part of my plan, but plans change. Shit happens and you deal. That's what I was doing. Dealing.

By now, we were almost done with our list. Bella was saying goodbye to her friends, while I packed the car, and we were going to be leaving this house for good in twenty minutes.

_This is it, big guy. _I coached myself as I watched Bella talking to Alec. _This is where everything changes. _

"You ready to go, Bell?" I asked her, as she walked towards me.

"Yeah. It's now or never." She replied, her nerves slipping into her voice a little.

_Yeah. Now or never. _I repeated in my head. _  


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**A/N: Hey! Sorry if it's not the best chapter. I am just trying to move the story along, without rushing it. So... REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! And tell me who you think Bella should end up with. Because, I think I have a pretty good idea, but idk. And this story isn't going to be centered around Bella and her love interest. Yeah, it's going to be a part of the story, but I've decided that this is going to be a Jasper/Bella story. All about her growing up with three bachelors as "parents." So anyways... REVIEW! And I'm looking for a beta. I'm not like, in dire need of one, but it would be nice to have some help with editing and stuff... okay. Sorry. Long note. Again. REVIEW. 3 **


	5. Chapter 5

**READ AND REVIEW, PLEASE! :)

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**

Previously...

_By now, we were almost done with our list. Bella was saying goodbye to her friends, while I packed the car, and we were going to be leaving this house for good in twenty minutes. _

_This is it, big guy. I coached myself as I watched Bella talking to Alec. This is where everything changes. _

"_You ready to go, Bell?" I asked her, as she walked towards me._

"_Yeah. It's now or never." She replied, her nerves slipping into her voice a little. _

_Yeah. Now or never.

* * *

_

BPOV

"You ready to go, Bell?" Uncle Jasper asked me.

_No._

"Yeah. It's now or never."

I'm not a stranger to moving. I've moved a bunch of times in my life time. My dad had been in the army before becoming the Chief of Police in Forks. I've lived in many houses, went to many schools, made many friends, but this time was different. I had been here the longest. I liked this house the best. I was the smartest in this school. I loved my friends.

And now I've got to leave.

I've got to leave all my friends, and start over from scratch. All of that was running through my head. But the worst difference, the one that made me feel sick to my stomach, was that this time, I was going alone. Mommy and Daddy were no longer here to hold my hand through my goodbyes.

All I have is Uncle Jasper. And that will have to be enough.

Well, I guess technically that isn't true. Apparently, I have two more "uncles" that I'm moving in with, too. Edward and Emmett. I really did feel bad for them, all three of them. They were just students, themselves, and now they are responsible for me? That doesn't seem fair. But Jasper _is _all I have, and I am so very grateful that Jasper is willing to take me in, even though it definitely won't be easy.

We both got in the car and got ourselves situated for the long drive.

_We've got a long road ahead of us...

* * *

_

I stared out the window as the car roared west to whatever. We'd been driving for hours. Jasper was talking in stressed blurts.

"I need to call Emmett about furniture for your room."

"I need to talk to Edward about moving his piano so you can have a desk."

I looked into the backseat, piled high with cardboard cartons of my life. In a box towards the top, there was all of the things that I'd always brought with me. When you move a lot, you have a few things that you bring with you that have stood the test of time.

I've got my Webster's dictionary, because words are important. I've got my New Oxford American thesaurus, because sometimes finding the right words requires assistance. I've got my Replogle globe, because you've got to keep a world view, you can't just live like you're the only person on the planet who matters. I've got my scrapbooks of the places I've lived, complete with photographs and all my important thoughts on people, things, and events. My mom always told me that it's easy to go to a new place and feel like you don't have a history, so you have to lug your history around with you or it's too easy to forget. She also told me that it's more important to get the big concept than be an expert in the small stuff.

Here's the big concept I was thinking about today. I don't expect life to be easy. It hasn't been yet, and I'm not holding my breath for smooth sailing in the future. Not everyone likes this philosophy, but it makes sense to me because when life hits the skids, I don't have to regroup as much as the people who walk around in a cloud like the world owes them a joyful existence. That doesn't make me pessimistic. I actually find that I'm more of a glass-half-full kinda person. But I've been through too much to be ignorant to bad things.

"You're thinking awful hard over there, sweetheart. Are you okay?" Uncle Jasper broke me from my thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about how things are going to change." I told him.

"Things are already changing, baby girl, we've just got to learn to adjust. We'll get through this." he assured me, though he kind of sounded like he was reminding himself of this, as well.

"Yeah. It'll be fine. So... I kind of have some questions." I told him, not really sure how to bring this up. I didn't want to seem ungrateful, but he really hadn't told me anything, and I kind of needed to know.

"Okay. Shoot."

The questions just started pouring out of me. I had been thinking them since I was told I was moving in with him. "What is it going to be like with your roommates? What are they like? Where am I going to school? When are you guys in school? What abou... "

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down, there, Casanova. Let me answer those ones and we'll get to the others after. I'm sorry I didn't talk to you about this before. I was so busy getting everything arranged, that I didn't even stop to think that you might be curious as to what you're life's going to be like from now on." he said, shooting me an apologetic glance, before returning is eyes to the road. "So. For your first question. I don't really know what it's going to be like with them. I haven't really had a chance to talk to them, other than briefly on the phone here and there, but I definitely know that it will be fine. They are both really cool guys, and my best friends. They don't have much experience with kids, so you'll have to cut them some slack, but then again, neither do I. They are both very nice, funny, and have disgusting eating habits,"

"Sounds like someone else I know..." I joked, cutting him off.

"Haha. Funny. But I really don't think that this is going to be a problem at all. It might be a little weird at first, but they will love you. What's not to love, right? And they're not the type to make things awkward. Okay, they kind of are, but that's just their sense of humor. Ignore them if they make you uncomfortable. As for school, there are a bunch of schools in the area. There are a couple of private schools that you could go to, if you want, or there is the public high school, but whichever you choose is fine. We do still go to school, not often, because we're seniors and almost done, but we do. We have football, too. You're aloud to be home alone, right? I mean, of coarse you are, I'm in charge now, and I say you can. I mean, you've been home alone before, right?" He sounded a little nervous, like if I told him I hadn't ever been home alone before, it would seriously mess up the plan. I was debating weather or not I should mess around with him, because obviously I had. I had lived with him for a summer and had been home alone on numerous occasions.

"Yes, Jasper, I've been home alone before. I'm not a baby. I'm not going to need you guys to change my diapers and hold my hand all day. I can pretty much just so my own thing, so I won't get in the way."

"Hold the phone. What are you talking about? Of coarse you're not going to be in the way. You are coming to live with us. You might need to 'do your own thing' sometimes, but we will definitely still be there for you. Got that?" he stressed.

"Yes. Okay, thanks." I told him. I was actually really glad that he said that. Although I probably could just stay out of the way and do my own thing, I didn't really want to. I loved my Uncle Jasper, and although I really wished I didn't have to, I didn't really mind going to live with him. I mean, I definitely would have preferred better circumstances, but nobody really asked me. And if Emmett and Edward were anything like Jasper described them, I don't think I'll have a problem with them, either.

We went over the rest of my questions, and he asked some of his own. After we run out of things to ask, we just talked. We hadn't really just talked about anything in a while. It felt good to have that normalcy again. Before I knew it, it was getting dark and I was getting sleepy. Jasper was going to drive for a couple more hours, then find a cheap motel for us to stay in. He was hoping to get us to Texas by late the next night.

"Goodnight, Jasper. I love you."

"Love you too, kiddo. Sleep well." he whispered softly, as I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**About the things that she brought with her in the car, not totally mine. I got it from a book that I read by Joan Bauer. But everything else was all me. Oh, and I totally forget to do this, but I don't own anything. None of the characters are mine. Just the plot. Okay, well I don't know if this chapter was any good, but I would love to hear your opinion! REVIEW PLEASE! 3 **


	6. Chapter 6

_Previously... _

_BPOV_

_Before I knew it, it was getting dark and I was getting sleepy. Jasper was going to drive for a couple more hours, then find a cheap motel for us to stay in. He was hoping to get us to Texas by late the next night. _

"_Goodnight, Jasper. I love you." _

"_Love you too, kiddo. Sleep well." he whispered softly, as I drifted off to sleep.

* * *

_

JPOV

"Goodnight, Jasper. I love you." Bella mumbled sleepily.

"Love you too, kiddo. Sleep well." I whispered back to her, as her breathing evened out, signaling that she was asleep.

What a car ride it's been. In the beginning, it was silent save the quite music playing in the background. We were both lost in our own thoughts. Then we started talking. I had forgotten how funny she was. We hadn't really had a chance to talk about anything since we've been together. It was all more about getting her packed and mourning the losses of her parents.

I drove for six more hours, before I was almost falling asleep at the wheel. I really should have given up earlier, especially considering the events that led up to us having to move Bella, but I was anxious to get home to Texas, and I didn't think I would be able to sleep.

I pulled into a decent looking motel, and went in to the office to get our room. I got our things from the back seat, that we had packed in advanced, and took them to our room. It was pretty small, but there were no dead bodies in it, and it didn't smell too bad. I finally went back out to the car and walked over to the passenger side door. I looked at Bella, who was sleeping peacefully. She looked so cute. I sometimes forget how young she really is. I mean, she's only fourteen. She's still a little baby.

I gently picked her up and started walking her to our room.

"Jazzy?" she asked, as she tiredly took in her surroundings.

"Shh... it's okay, baby girl. I'm just taking you into the hotel." I assured her.

"Okay. Love you." she replied, the last part getting lost under her breath as she dozed off again.

I placed Bella on one side of the bed, before climbing in next to her.

"Goodnight, sweet girl." I said, kissing her head, before giving in to sleep, myself.

* * *

I woke up the next morning to the smell of stale coffee and burnt toast.

"Uncle Jasper?" I heard Bella come kneel by my face. "Uncle Jazz? Umm... I have breakfast for you. We need to be out of here by 11, and it's 10:30 now." she whispered.

_Aww crap. _One thing that I failed to think about last night was that it didn't matter how late I stayed up. I still had to be up and on the road the next morning. I kind of wanted to be on the road by now, but since I drove longer than planned last night, I guess it'll be fine.

"Hey, yeah, thanks for waking me up. What's that awful smell?" I asked, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

She smiled at me ruefully, "Yeah. That's our 'complementary breakfast. Smells appetizing, right?"

"Yeah. We're stopping at Dunkin' Donuts." I informed her, eyeing the tray of "food" suspiciously.

"Oh, thank god! I definitely didn't want to eat that! But you really need to hurry up and shower, if we're going to be out of here on time." Bella laughed.

"Yeah, I'll be quick. Do you need a shower?" I asked awkwardly. I didn't know if girls needed showers everyday at that age. When I was fourteen, I'm pretty sure it was an every-other-day thing for me. But that could have just been me. Wow. There's so much I need to learn.

"No, it's alright. I already took one." she replied, sensing my dilemma. As I looked closer, I could obviously see that her hair was wet and she was all dressed and ready.

"Okay, awesome. How long have you been up?" I asked curiously.

"Not that long. Room service woke me up at 10, I got in the shower and dressed than woke you up." she said, nonchalantly. _No freaking way._

"You mean to tell me that you got ready in half an hour?" I didn't believe her. No girl can get ready that fast.

"Yeah, but that's because I showered. I usually like to shower at night, so I can stay in bed longer. I'm not usually a morning person." she told me.

"I have a feeling that you're going to fit in just fine." I told her, ruffling her hair before making my way to the bathroom to get ready myself.

It was another long car ride, as we made our way south. We played classic car-trip games and we sang to some songs on the radio, but mostly we just sat in comfortable silence. Bella was a lot like me in the sense that not every silence needed to be filled with meaningless chatter.

We finally were pulling into our neighborhood.

"This is it, Bell. This is our home." I told her, turning into our driveway.

"Wow. I didn't expect it to be almost like a house. I thought it was going to be a big, tall building." she said, looking around.

Our apartment was part of a duplex. We lived in a nice neighborhood which was filled with families. You wouldn't really expect that from college boys, right? But our coach was the owner of the building. There was a very nice family that lived next door. Esme Cullen was the nicest lady that you could ever meet. She was always baking us treats for our games. It was really sweet of her, concidering we didn't really talk outside of pleasantry's when we saw each other and when she brought us the food. She lived with her husband, Carlisle, who was a doctor at the local hospital, and her two sons, who were right around Bella's age. _Better watch out for them... _

"What are you trying to say, Bella? You implying that you think I would live in some pigsty apartment with druggie neighbors?" I joked.

"No! No! Nothing like that at all," she rushed to defend. "I'm just surprised, is all."

"Okay, baby. Let's get the things that you'll need tonight and head in. Emmett and Edward are waiting to meet you." I told her gathering my things. I opened my door and started to walk up the pathway that led to our house, when I noticed that Bella wasn't following me. I looked back into the car and saw that she hadn't moved. She was just sitting there staring at the door like something was going to jump out and scare her.

_Well, duh. She's never been here before. This is all new to her. You're expecting her to just get up and waltz right into a place where she's never been, talk to people she's never met, and sleep in a new place. Of coarse she's going to be a little nervous. _

I did a mental face-palm and got back in the car and sat next to her. "Okay." I said to her, getting her attention. "We can do one of two things. We can either one, drive away now and sleep in the car tonight and do this later, or two, we can get our stuff, get in there, and get it over with. I'm up for either, so it's your choice." I told her. I was serious, too. If she told me to drive away from here, I would. I wouldn't be to thrilled about sleeping in the car, but I would. Just for tonight, though. I knew she'd have to get it over with sooner or later, and I was hoping that she was going to pick sooner.

"Okay. Lets do this. Bandaid. Just like a bandaid." She mumbled under her breath before getting out of the car to get her stuff.

_Bandaid? How do bandaids have anything to do with this? Whatever. It got her out of the car. _

I slowly made my way back up the path, this time with Bella right beside me. I went to stick my key in the lock, when the door flew open.

"Finally! It took you guys long enough!" Emmett's boom came as I was enveloped in a huge, very manly, bear hug. "And this must be Bella. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Emmett." he looked at Bella.

I turned to gage her response. Emmett was a big guy, and looked very intimidating, but he was really just a big teddy bear. There was nothing scary about Emmett. I looked at her face and noticed that she didn't look frightened at all. She was smiling, and talking back to him.

"Nice to meet you, too, Emmett. I've heard so much about you." she said. I walked in the door and immediately noticed how messy it was. We were young guys who didn't usually bring girls home, if you know what I mean. We definitely _got _them home, just... not our home. Our home was strictly for us. The team actually came and went regularly, because we had the best man-cave basement. Our house wasn't huge, but it was pretty big. And we shared a pool with the Cullens, which wasn't too bad, as we never really used it.

A squeal brought me out of my musings. I turned to find Bella on the floor, and all of her things laying a few feet from her.

"Wow. That's embarrassing. Oops." Bella laughed out, as she stood up and got her bag back in her hand. Emmett, who had been trying his hardest not to laugh, started cracking up after he saw that it wouldn't upset her. I was really impressed. Nothing like that would have happened before. Usually, he would have just lost it right then and there, but it was nice to see that he was honestly trying.

* * *

EMPOV

Jasper was _finally _coming home. I would never say this to anyone other than him or Edward, but I had missed him. He's my best friend, and honestly, Edward isn't as much fun without Jasper around. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love Edward like he's my brother, but I was glad that Jasper was coming home. I was also getting kind of excited to meet Bella. I mean, yeah, it's not ideal living with a fourteen year old girl, but hey, might as well make the best of it. Jazz literally sings his praises to this girl, so she can't be that bad. And even if she is, Jazz is my brother, so I'll just have to put up with her.

Edward was waiting with me for awhile, but he's a rescue fire-fighter, so he was called in and had to leave. I heard a car pulling into the drive and got up to look out the window next to the door. Jasper had tinted windows, so I couldn't really see much, but I saw Jasper getting out of the car and walking up the path way.

_Where the hell was Bella? _

Jasper seemed the hear my thought as, as soon as I thought it, he seemed to notice that she wasn't following him. He turned back around and got back in the car. After a few minutes, I was getting impatient. _What was taking them so damn long? _

Finally, I saw them both getting out of the car and walking up the path way. I could have easily opened the door and met them outside, but I didn't want to scare little Bella. I didn't have much time to take her in, but she was definitely small. I heard them standing at the door, and I heard Jasper fumbling with his keys. _Hell no. _I couldn't take it any longer, so I opened the door myself.

"Finally! It took you guys long enough!" I boomed, I kind of have a loud voice. I grabbed Jasper into a hug, that was very manly, and then turned to look at the small girl standing next to him. "And this must be Bella. It's very nice to meet you. I'm Emmett." I finally got a good look at her. She was a very pretty girl, wearing sweatpants and a fitted-t. _Man, we're going to have trouble keeping the boys away from this one... _I thought to myself as Bella greeted me. I didn't really know where that thought came from, because she wasn't really my problem, she was Jasper's, but I knew that I would help.

"Nice to meet you, too, Emmett. I've heard so much about you." she said sweetly. She was really small, especially compared to me. I'm a big guy, and I tend to intimidate people a lot, so I was really glad that she was smiling at me as she said that. _She wasn't scared of me. _Most children are. But, I guess she's more of a teen than a child. Whatever. It's all the same.

Jasper walked in and started looking around the house. It hadn't really changed since when he left. It was still a mess, which I kind of felt bad about. Not because of Jasper, hell no! He'd be fine. It was some of his stuff, too. But for Bella. It must be weird walking into a place that you're being forced to live in, and have it smell like socks. And I mean gross, dirty, just-got-back-from-the-gym socks. Bella started to walk forward, but her shoe caught on the step into the house and she fell flat onto her face, sending her bag flying a good five feet from where she landed.

It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen, but because I had decided that I was really going to try to be nice and everything, I tried my hardest not to laugh. I know how teenage girls can get embarrassed easily. I just hope she doesn't cry or something.

She really surprised me when she started laughing. "Wow. That's embarrassing. Oops." She just laughed it off and started picking herself up off the floor, getting her bag back in her hands.

That was all I could take. I burst out laughing, and soon, all three of us were just in stitches. We were laughing so hard, I swear I saw Jasper wipe away a few tears. In all reality, it wasn't _that_ funny. But I think it was all just so tense, that it just totally made the whole thing hilarious.I looked over to see Bella laughing, too. I was really glad that she hadn't cried or made a big deal about it or anything.

_Hmm... maybe this won't be so bad...

* * *

_

**A/N: Hi. Sorry for such a long wait. And also, I'm sorry if it's not very good. I just wanted to get an update out there, and I had the time. So... there it was. Please review! That would be great! Thanks for reading! :) **


	7. Chapter 7

_Previously..._

_That was all I could take. I burst out laughing, and soon, all three of us were just in stitches. We were laughing so hard, I swear I saw Jasper wipe away a few tears. In all reality, it wasn't __that funny. But I think it was all just so tense, that it just totally made the whole thing hilarious. I looked over to see Bella laughing, too. I was really glad that she hadn't cried or made a big deal about it or anything. _

_Hmm... maybe this won't be so bad...

* * *

_

EDPOV

Emmett and I were sitting around waiting for Jazz and Bella to come home, her room all cleared, and then I got called for a fire. It was a pretty big fire, so it took us a couple of hours to get it under control. It was almost one in the morning by the time that I got home. Jasper's car was in the driveway, so I knew that they had made it home. I walked in the door, and saw Emmett and Jasper sitting on the couch, talking.

"Hey, Jazz. Been a while." I said, making my way into the living room.

"Edward. Definitely too long. Missed you, man." Jasper said, standing up to give me a quick bro-hug.

"Yes, was. So, man, what's new? How was your drive? How's the kid?" I asked him.

"'The kid's name is Bella, asshole, and it was pretty good. Long drive, but I'm just glad to be home." Jasper answered. "Bella's asleep now, so you'll have to meet her in the morning. You're going to love her."

"Yeah, Ed, she's pretty chill. She's a nice girl." Emmett said, speaking for the first time since I got home.

"Can't wait to meet her. Listen, Jazz, it's good to see you and all, but I'm in dire need of a shower and I am dead tired."

"Oh, yeah, yeah. Okay, goodnight, Edward." Jasper said.

"Night, Eddie!" Emmett yelled as I made my way up the stairs.

"Shut, up, man! You're going to wake Bella."

"Shit. Sorry, forgot."

_Man, I love my friends.

* * *

_

The next morning, I woke up late. I got up, still in my boxers, and made my way to the bathroom. Someone was in the shower, so I went upstairs to the fourth floor, where the weight room was. There was a bathroom up there.

I opened the door, and was surprised when there was a scream.

"AHHHHHH!" The door was slammed in my face.

Shit.

I totally forgot that Bella was here. Damn it!

While I was thinking through all of this, Jasper and Emmett made their way up the stairs. Emmett was dragging his feet, he was not a morning person, and Jasper was clad only in a towel.

"What's wrong? Bell? What's going on?" Jasper demanded.

"Yeah, what the hell?" Poor Emmett wad disoriented.

The door cracked open, and Bella stepped out. "Sorry, Bella. I forgot that you would be staying in this room. I was half asleep and Jasper was in the shower, so I was coming up here to use the bathroom. I am so sorry." I apologized to the young girl standing in front of me.

"Umm... that's okay. You must be Edward." She responded.

"Yeah, that'd be me." I replied, still embarrassed. _I can't believe I forgot about her! Now what is she going to think?_

"Okay. Hey, don't worry about it. I'm not much of a morning person, either." She said, easing my worries.

"Okay, great. So glad this was all worked out. Imma go back to bed." Emmett mumbled as he turned around and lumbered down the stairs.

"Sorry, Emmett!" Bella yelled after him. "Sorry, Jasper and Edward, too. You just surprised me, is all." she explained.

"It's okay, B. Emmett's just a little grumpy in the morning." Jasper confided. "Now that all this has been sorted out, I'm going to go finish taking my shower. I need to get all this shampoo out of my hair." And he, too, walked down the stairs, leaving me alone with Bella.

"So, uh... sorry, again." I said, awkwardly.

"Not a problem." She assured. "Umm... if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to start unpacking my stuff." And then there was me.

_And I still needed to pee.

* * *

_

BPOV

Even though I wouldn't let any of them know, I was really embarrassed about what happened this morning.

_I was asleep on a blow-up mattress that had been put in my new room. It was a nice room, with windows and hard-wood floors. But that's about it. Jasper and Emmett were really apologetic that I didn't have any stuff, but they promised that we would go shopping the next day to get furniture for my room. The room was a little loft that was on the third floor. It was just a room and a bathroom, but I liked it. There were stairs right by Jasper's room and the bathroom that led up to a little landing. Then there was my room and a little linen closet. I was only half-asleep, due to the sun that had woken me up at an un-godly hour. The time difference was also throwing me off. I heard the door open, and I looked to see who was coming in. I saw a man that I had never seen standing there in his boxers looking shocked. I screamed, and stood up to slam the door. _

_Oh, shit. That must be Edward. Now that I was thinking about it rationally, I was really embarrassed. I had never seen a guy in his boxers, other than my father. And I didn't even know this man! _

"_What's wrong? Bell? What's going on?" Jasper demanded._

_Oh, man! I probably woke him and Emmett! Now, how are they going to like me? _

"_Yeah, what the hell?" I totally messed that up. He seemed nice last night, but I'd be pissed if someone woke me up like that, too. _

_Well, I guess I have to go face this now. I opened the door slowly and stepped out onto the landing. _

_The man who was in his boxers, who I assumed to be Edward spoke to me. "Sorry, Bella. I forgot that you would be staying in this room. I was half-asleep and Jasper was in the shower, so I was coming up here to use the bathroom. I am so sorry." he rambled his apology. _

"_Umm... that's okay. You must be Edward." I responded, just making sure. _

"_Yeah, that'd be me." He replied, looking a little embarrassed. Poor guy. I would be mortified if someone I didn't know saw me in my underwear. _

"_Okay. Hey, don't worry about it. I'm not much of a morning person, either." I said, trying to make him less embarrassed. It was true, I wasn't really a morning person. _

"_Okay, great. So glad this was all worked out. Imma go back to bed." Emmett mumbled as he turned around and went back down the stairs. Man! I'm going to have to apologize later, when he's more awake. _

"_Sorry, Emmett! Sorry, Jasper and Edward, too. You just surprised me, is all." I told them, embarrassed about this whole situation. _

"_It's okay, B. Emmett's just a little grumpy in the morning." Jasper reassured. "Now that all this has been sorted out, I'm going to go finish taking my shower. I need to get all this shampoo out of my hair." After he left, it was just Edward and I left. _

"_So, uh... sorry, again." He said awkwardly. _

"_Not a problem. Umm... if you'll excuse me, I think I'm going to start unpacking my stuff." I said and then made my escape to my room. I had a few boxes that I brought in last night that I wasn't planning on unpacking until I got my furniture. But he didn't need to know that.

* * *

_

I hadn't slept too well the night before between the nightmares and being in a new place. I was just laying on my mattress, waiting for Jasper to be ready so that we could go furniture shopping. _I swear, he takes longer to get ready than I do! _

"Bell! You almost ready to go?" Jasper called up.

"Yeah, I'm ready!" I called back. I was dressed in jean shorts with a blue tank top. I had my gray "live laugh love" sweatshirt on and was wearing my sandals. I decided to paint my nails blue and I was wearing pink lip gloss. I had a blue messenger bag from areopostale, along with sun-glasses and my mother's cross. This was all done in the time that Jasper was "finishing up" in the shower. **(picture on profile)**

"Really? Already? Okay, well I'm going to need five more minutes, and then we can leave. Sound good?"

"Sure." I answered. I wasn't really sure what I wanted my room to look like, but I knew that it was going to need an air-freshener. It, apparently, used to be their weight room, so it made sense that it smelled like dirty socks and sweat, but it didn't make it any less gross.

I made my way down the stairs, figuring that I would just wait in the living room if I had to. It was so weird being in someone else's house, and knowing that you were going to stay there. I guess this was my house, too. And it made it even more weird that I had to meet these new people and live with them. It was different when I went to my grandparent's for the summer. I knew them, and I had visited their house twice before that. But I'd never been here before, and I wasn't really sure how to deal with all this.

Things were moving so fast. It wasn't two months ago when I was in the car going to my choir concert with my parents. Now my parents were gone, I was living in a new state, with new people, doing new things. I'm not new to change, but this is a lot for me to take in. I mean, I'm barely fourteen! I'll get used to it eventually, but it'll take time.

I sat on the couch for like, two minutes, when the door bell rang.

"Hey, Bell, can you get it?" Jasper yelled down to me.

_Aw shit. This is going to be awkward. _

I walked over to the door, and looked through the peek-hole. There was a very nice-looking middle aged women standing there, holding something in her hands. _Seems safe enough. _

I opened the door and the women standing there looked really surprised.

"Hello?" I said, hoping that she would stop starring and would tell me what she needed.

"Oh, hello, dear. I'm so sorry. How awfully rude of me! I'm Esme Cullen, and I live next door. I was just dropping by to see if the boys wanted some cookies." She said, handing me the plate.

"Oh, well, hi! I'm Isabella Swan, Jasper's niece." I introduced myself as I took the cookies from her, which smelled really good. "Wow, theses cookies smell delicious!" I told her.

"Thank you, dear. So you're here visiting your uncle? How nice!" She said, trying to make conversation. She seemed like she was genially curious, and friendly, rather than like she was prying or being snotty or something.

"Umm... actually, I'm moving in with him and his two roommates." I said, hoping against all hopes that she wouldn't ask why. I don't think I could handle telling people yet. I just didn't want to talk about it.

She didn't disappoint. "Oh, how lovely! So I guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other, then!" She replied. "You'll have to meet my sons. You look to be about their age. How old are you?"

"I just turned fourteen." I told her. I kind of hoped that her sons were going to be freshmen, too, so we could hang out this summer. That way, I wouldn't have to start high-school by myself.

"My son Seth is fourteen, too. He's going to be a freshmen. I assume, you are too?" at my nod, she kept going. "And my other son, Paul, is fifteen and he is going to be a sophomore. So you're all just around the same age. I'll send them over, soon, so they could meet you!"

"Yeah, that'd be cool. But, actually, Jasper and I are going shopping for furniture for my room." And just like clockwork, Jasper came down the stairs and saw Mrs. Cullen at the door.

"Hey, Esme. I see that you met my niece." Jasper said, smiling.

"Yes, I did. She is a very sweet young lady." Mrs. Cullen smiled at me.

"That she is. Oh! What do we have here?" he asked, eyeing the cookies.

"Mrs. Cullen.." I started, but was interrupted by Mrs. Cullen.

"It's Esme, dear. is my mother-in-law."

_Okay. _"Esme made cookies and brought some over for us."

"They smell awesome! Thanks so much!" Jasper took the plate from me and said, "Bell, we need to be heading out, soon. I'll bring these to the kitchen, but then we should go. Sorry, Esme, we just need to get to the stores with enough time to look around so that we can get her a bed for tonight."

"Jasper! You brought your niece to a home without a bed for her!" Esme chastised. "That's no good."

"I know, I'm sorry, just things have been busy!" Jasper said, sheepishly. To me he said, "Esme keeps us in line."

"Yes, sir, I do." Esme said forcefully. "Now, if you go to my store, I can get you guys a good discount on a whole bedroom set."

"That would be great! Bella, Esme is an interior designer. Maybe you could tell her what you want your room to look like and she could help you. I'm not too good at that kind of thing."

"Would you mind? I could really use some help picking stuff out." I asked her.

"Of coarse, deary. I'll go get my bag, and we can go right now!" she said, turning to leave. "I'll be out in a minute."

After she had left, Jasper turned to me.

"Hey, sorry, Bell. I didn't even really ask you if it was okay if Esme came with us. I'm really not going to be much help picking stuff out and matching things. It's just not really my thing, and it's totally Esme's thing. But if you really don't want her to come, I can tell her that we decided not to go today or something..."

"Jasper. Stop." I interrupted. "It's definitely fine. I don't mind at all. She seems very nice, and you're right. You're not really good at this kind of thing. And I was being honest when I said that I could use her help." I assured him.

"Okay, then. Let's get going." Esme said, coming back into view.

* * *

By the time that we were finished, it was nine o'clock. Esme was such a nice lady, and she gave us a really good bargain on all of it. We got two different colors of paint, a floor rug, a rug for my bathroom, bathroom things for my bathroom, bookshelves, a bed, a side-table, a desk, a chair for my desk, some lamps, a dresser, anything that I could ever need. We had to have a truck deliver it to our house. When I asked Jasper how we were going to afford it all, he looked a little uncomfortable and sad. He didn't need to say it for me to know that it was from the money my parents had left me. And from what I understand, they left me a lot of money.

That was the only time throughout the whole day that I thought of my parents. I had a lot of fun with Esme and Jasper. Esme was quickly turning into a mother figure in my life. She was very nice, but she put you in your place if you did something bad. It was nice.

When we got home, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward all unpacked the truck. I offered to help, but I was told to go start painting. So I did. I painted my hole room a light blue, and then I had a darker blue that I was going to paint a mural on one of the walls with. I was a pretty good artist, and I really liked to paint.

We all went to bed at a little after one, me in Jasper's room with him.

"Night, Jazz."

"Night, Bella."

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if it's not too great. PLEASE REVIEW! Thanks :) Oh, and P.S. Bella's outfit is on my profile. **


	8. Chapter 8

Previously...

_When we got home, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward all unpacked the truck. I offered to help, but I was told to go start painting. So I did. I painted my hole room a light blue, and then I had a darker blue that I was going to paint a mural on one of the walls with. I was a pretty good artist, and I really liked to paint. _

_We all went to bed at a little after one, me in Jasper's room with him. _

"_Night, Jazz." _

"_Night, Bella."

* * *

_

SPOV

"I wonder what she looks like." Paul stated, laying on his back on my bed. He was throwing a football in the air and catching it again. And talking about girls. _Typical._

"Yeah, I don't know. Maybe we should go over to meet her tomorrow." I suggested.

"Naw, you never go to the girl, Sethy. You let the girl come to you," he replied.

"Don't call me 'Sethy,' and I think I'm still going to go over there."

"You know, her balcony is right across from yours. We could probably go out there right now and see her. That way, we can go meet her if she's hot, but if she's ass ugly, we won't even have to bother." he tried to reason.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" I asked him. Seriously? Where does he get this shit from? Our mother would have his neck if she knew that he was considering being a peeping-tom. "Mom would kill you if she ever found out."

"Well, mom wouldn't have to find out, now would she?" Paul challenged, looking toward the door that led out to the balcony.

"Paul, don't." He started walking over to the door and opened it. _He was actually going to do this. _I stood there in my room going over my two options. I could one, follow him and see if the new girl is hot or not, and possibly be hung by our mother, or I could stay here and not get in trouble, but have my brother hate me even more for being a "goody-goody." _Aww, shit. _

I quickly made up my mind and followed him out onto my balcony. I walked over to where he was standing, and saw that he was staring intently at one of the windows. I moved my gaze over to the house next to ours, and saw that there were boards or something covering the glass doors to the balcony, but her windows weren't covered.

There in the room across from mine, was a beautiful brunet girl who looked to be around 5'4''. She was wearing shorts and a tank top as she danced around her room, painting it, and lip-syncing to her iPod that was in her ears.

"Damn." Paul mumbled under his breath.

"Yeah, she's pretty. Let's go back inside." I told him, still watching the girl, but slowly backing into my room. _Forget my mom, what would happen if she caught us watching? _"Paul, she's going to see us watching her, she's going to scream. Her huge, football-playing uncle is going to run in ready to kill someone along with his two huge football-playing best friends. Who will be their targets of all their pent up football-playing rage? Us. And I kinda like my face the way it is. Let's just go before we get caught." I could see my logic washing right over him. _He can be such a moron. _I turned around and left him standing there by himself. I sat on my bed and waited about half a minute before Paul follow me back in. Once he was in, I walked over and locked the doors to my balcony.

"She was hot." was all he said as he walked out of my room, and headed downstairs.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up, took a shower, got dressed, and headed over next door to meet the new neighbor. Mom had spent the evening with her last night furniture shopping, and said that she was a sweetheart. She also said that if I didn't get my behind over here to introduce myself today, I would be in serious trouble. Whatever, I had no problem with it. I wanted to meet her. Maybe we could be friends, or something. All of my friends from school were going to be away for the summer, so I was on my own.

I knocked on the door, took a step back, and waited. I heard someone yell "door" and then I heard shuffling. The door flew open, revealing Jasper, the girl's uncle. "Hello, Seth. What can I do for you?" he asked suspiciously. _I would be suspicious, too, if I had a niece who looked like that and a boy was knocking on my door._

"Yeah, hey, Mr. Whitlock," I started, but was interrupted by his scoff.

"Hey, kid, how old do you think I am? It's Jasper. Now how can I help you?" he sounded a little annoyed.

"Okay, well, actually, Jasper, my mom sent me over to introduce myself to our new neighbor. Please let me introduce myself. She is right over there looking through the kitchen window making sure that I am actually going to do it, and I'll be in so much trouble if I don't." I begged. That was all the truth. My mom may or may not have threatened to take away Black Ops if I didn't do this.

"Fine. I'll get her," he said shortly.

_Well, at least he's getting her for me. Now I don't have to worry about my mom. _

"Hello?" I heard, bringing me out of my thoughts. I turned my attention back to the doorway in front of me and was met with the sight of the brunet girl from last night looking at me.

"Umm.. hey, my name is Seth. I live next door, and my mom told me that we were about the same age. I just wanted to come over to introduce myself."

"Hey, Seth, my name is Bella." she smiled and shook my hand that I had outstretched to her.

"So, what grade are you going into?" I asked her, genially curious and wanting to make conversation.

"I'm going to be a freshmen. You?" she responded.

"I'm going to be a freshmen, too. What school are you going to?" _Maybe we'll go to the same school. _

"I don't really know, yet. I might go to a private one, or I might go to the local public one. Haven't really decided yet."

"Oh, well that's cool."

"Yeah."

We both stood there awkwardly for a couple of seconds, before someone in her house yelled for her.

"Well, I better go. It was nice meeting you," she smiled, and started backing up to close the door.

"Yeah, it was nice to meet you, too. Maybe we could hang out sometime." She seemed nice, and it would be cool to get to know her better.

"Yeah, definitely. See ya later, Seth."

_Hmm... this could be an okay summer, after all.

* * *

_

I was laying on the couch watching Law and Order SVU, when I heard the door slam shut. _Paul's home._

"Hey, wanna go over and meet the new girl with me?" Paul asked, already fixing his hair, getting ready to head back out.

"Naw, I already met her. Tell her I say hey." I said, knowing it would irk him that I met her before he did.

"What the hell? You went over without me? When?" _Haha. Every freaking time. _He was kind of a competitive guy.

"When you were out with Jared and Embry. Mom told me to go meet her, so I did. Jasper is already on red-alert with her, so I wouldn't try anything. And she's not really your type, anyway. She's not older than you. She's my age." I told him. Paul has been going through this thing lately, where he will only go out with older girls. Which is dumb, because he's fifteen, and still a virgin.

"Damn. I was hoping she was at least my age. Oh, whatever. I think I'm just going to go hang out with Lauren or Jessica." he said, going upstairs.

"Okay. Have fun." I called back.

* * *

JPOV

I was sitting in the living room watching _Flyboy _with Bella, when there was a knock on the door. As I got up to answer it, I heard Emmett yell "door" from his place in the den.

I looked through the peep whole, and saw that it was one of Esme's sons, Seth I think it was. He was the one that was Bella's age.

_Already? Really? She hasn't been here a week and there are already boys at my door. Hell no. _

I opened the door, and looked at him warily. "Hello, Seth. What can I do for you?"

"Yeah, hey, Mr. Whitlock," he started, but was interrupted by my scoff.

"Hey, kid, how old do you think I am? It's Jasper. Now how can I help you?" I was annoyed, and I think that he could tell. I didn't want to be dealing with him, and I had told him before that just Jasper was fine. What, was he trying to suck up to me? I could literally see the moment when he decided to cut the crap and get straight down to business. What I heard next, surprised me.

"Okay, well, actually, Jasper, my mom sent me over to introduce myself to our new neighbor. Please let me introduce myself. She is right over there looking through the kitchen window making sure that I am actually going to do it, and I'll be in so much trouble if I don't." he practically begged. I glanced over and, sure enough, there was Esme looking through the kitchen window, making sure her son followed through on his task.

"Fine. I'll get her," I said shortly. Just because I was surprised, and it didn't seem like him trying anything, I still didn't like it.

I walked back into the living room to get her.

"Hey, Bell, there's someone at the door for you." I told her.

She looked at me confused, but got up, anyways. I paused the movie and I watched as she made her way outside.

"What's going on, man? Who was at the door?" Edward asks, coming into the room from the kitchen.

"The next door neighbor, Seth, is over introducing himself to Bella." I told him flatly, still not impressed.

"Damn. Already? What's it been, like, two days?" he jokes, but I can see in his eyes that he's a little bit serious.

"Yeah, I know, right? What's it going to be like once she starts school and starts making friends and stuff?" I thought aloud.

"I don't know, man. Hey, how old is Seth, anyways?"

"Umm... if I'm right and he is Bella's age, he's fourteen. But I could be a little off. Why?" I asked, curious as to what he was thinking.

"Oh man, that's a rough time. The only things on our minds were sex and video games. Sometimes together." he said.

_Damn. _

"BELLA!" I called to her, figuring it had been long enough. _How long does it take to introduce yourself, anyways? _

A few minutes later, Bella came back into the living room and resumed her seat, which was now next to Edward.

"What'd the neighbor want?" Edward asked, tactlessly.

"Oh, he just introduced himself, and we talked about where we're going to school, and our ages, and when we were going to sneak out to have sex." She answered, nonchalantly turning the movie back on.

_Wait a minute. _

"What the hell do you mean 'when you were going to sneak out to have sex?'" I asked her, rather loudly.

"Relax, Jasper. It was a joke. I knew that you guys would jump to the worst conclusion possible, just because he's a guy. My... my dad always did too. What did you think I was going to do? Get pregnant from shaking his hand?" she asked, stumbling over the part about her dad a little bit.

"Okay, so I guess we overreacted a little bit." I said sheepishly.

"We?" Edward asked, smirking at my discomfort.

"Okay, so I guess _I _overreacted a little bit. But what can I say? I'm your uncle. It's my job to worry about you."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. Let's just watch the movie and fight about it later." Bella said, turning all our attention back to the movie.

_Man, was this going to be a long summer.

* * *

_

**A/N: REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW! It's probably not that good, but whatever. Sorry to all you Last of Summer's Sun fans out there, I know I usually update them every other time. Like last time I updated CP, so LOSS should be this time, right? Wrong. Sorry, I just started writing a chapter for that, and I just couldn't finish it. I'll start again, and hopefully update it, ASAP. :D Oh, and in case you missed it, PLEASE REVIEW! :D **_  
_


	9. Chapter 9

_Previously... _

"_What'd the neighbor want?" Edward asked, tactlessly. _

"_Oh, he just introduced himself, and we talked about where we're going to school, and our ages, and when we were going to sneak out to have sex." She answered, nonchalantly turning the movie back on. _

_Wait a minute. _

"_What the hell do you mean 'when you were going to sneak out to have sex?'" I asked her, rather loudly. _

"_Relax, Jasper. It was a joke. I knew that you guys would jump to the worst conclusion possible, just because he's a guy. My... my dad always did too. What did you think I was going to do? Get pregnant from shaking his hand?" she asked, stumbling over the part about her dad a little bit. _

"_Okay, so I guess we overreacted a little bit." I said sheepishly. _

"_We?" Edward asked, smirking at my discomfort. _

"_Okay, so I guess I overreacted a little bit. But what can I say? I'm your uncle. It's my job to worry about you." _

"_Yeah, yeah, okay. Let's just watch the movie and fight about it later." Bella said, turning all our attention back to the movie. _

_Man, this is going to be a long summer. _

BPOV

I knew that Jasper was worried about me meeting the neighbor boys for some reason. He seemed nice enough to me, like someone I could be friends with. When I walked back into the living room, I saw both Edward and Jasper looking a little tense.

"What'd the neighbor want?" Edward blurted out.

"Oh, he just introduced himself, and we talked about where we're going to school, and our ages, and when we were going to sneak out to have sex." I said, not glancing away from the T.V.

What did they think was going to happen in the time that we were at the door?

"What the hell do you mean 'when you were going to sneak out to have sex?'" Jasper practically shouted at me.

_Geesh. Can't even take a joke. _

"Relax, Jasper. It was a joke. I knew that you guys would jump to the worst conclusion possible, just because he's a guy. My... my dad" I paused for a moment. It's still hard to talk about. "always did too. What did you think I was going to do? Get pregnant from shaking his hand?" I replied, a little annoyed.

_Talk about trust issues. _

"Okay, so I guess we overreacted a little bit." He smiled at me sheepishly.

"We?" Edward asked, looking amusedly at Jasper.

"Okay, so I guess I overreacted a little bit. But what can I say? I'm your uncle. It's my job to worry about you." The look on his face was enough to make me forgive him. I was still annoyed about how he reacted, though. I was going to make new friends, and some of those friends might happen to be guys. He couldn't freak out and have a heart attack every time I talked to someone. We'd definitely have to talk about this later.

Not wanting to talk about it now, I simply answered, "Yeah, yeah, okay. Let's just watch the movie and fight about it later."

We finished the movie and went up to bed. I was still sleeping in Jasper's room with him, because I was still having nightmares, and my room wasn't done being painted. I had the base coat on all four walls, but I hadn't even started the mural.

* * *

The next morning, I woke up sweating, and with Jasper's arm around my waist. Last night was hard. I don't know why, because I really had been getting better. Oh well, hopefully tonight will be better than last night.

I glanced at the clock and it said it was 10.

I lay in bed for a few more minutes, snuggling with my uncle, before I really had to pee. I slowly removed his arm and headed into the bathroom.

After I was done, I knew that there was no way I was getting back to sleep, so I went into my bathroom and jumped in the shower.

I took a nice, long shower, letting the warm water relax my tense muscles. The only reason I even got out of the shower was because I lived with three other people, and I didn't want to use all the hot water up. I got out, and realized that I had taken an hour.

Once I was dressed in my gray razor back tank top and shorts, I brushed out my hair and put it back in an orange head band. I threw on my orange dog necklace and called it good enough. **(Outfit on my profile) **I sat down on the floor in my bedroom and decided to read a little bit. I pulled out my book and got lost in a different world. I was pulled back into reality by my stomach growling.

I made my way to the kitchen to see what I could cook for breakfast. I went through the pantry, and just settled on pancakes. I pulled out the necessary ingredients and decided to make bacon and sausage, too. I knew that Emmett had gone out last night, and probably gotten drunk, so I also put on a pot of coffee. By now, it was almost noon, and I thought that was a reasonable time to start breakfast.

I put the pancakes on the griddle, and I cooked the bacon and sausage. I made some of the pancakes chocolate chip, some of them blueberry, and some of them just plain. I didn't really know everyone's preference yet, but I knew that Jasper loved blueberry ones. As everything cooked, I cut up some fruit in the fridge.

When I first got here, everything was a mess, and all they had in the fridge was left overs. Edward sheepishly explained that none of them were really good cooks, so usually they would just order out or something. Refusing to eat take out every night of the week, I made Jasper take me to the grocery store where I bought all of the essentials. I got everything from macaroni and cheese, to chicken breasts, and even cake mix and stuff. When we got back, I reorganized the whole kitchen and took on the job as cook. So far, I've really only made dinners like spaghetti and sandwiches. I just wanted to get comfortable with everything before I started really cooking. I absolutely love cooking it's something that my mom and I used to do together. Well, in the beginning. We used to cook dinner together when I was younger, but as I grew older and more capable in the kitchen, I started coming up with my own recipes.

By this time, I had flipped all the pancakes and put them in the oven at a very low temperature to keep them warm. The sausage was done and in the oven next to the pancakes, and the bacon was almost ready. It smelled really really good, so I wasn't at all surprised when I heard activity from upstairs. Within a matter of minutes, Jasper and Edward came down the stairs in their PJs looking like they needed coffee. I set out two mugs and poured them their coffee while they got out the cream and sugar.

"Good morning," I smiled at them.

"Morning." Edward mumbled, still not completely awake.

Jasper came around the island in the middle of the floor and kissed the top of my head. "Morning."

"So, Jasper, I know that you like blueberry pancakes, but I didn't really know what Emmett and Edward would want, so I made some chocolate chip ones and then just some plain ones. There is syrup in the fridge, if you wouldn't mind getting it, and if you would just grab your plates and head to the table, I'll bring everything over." I ordered, not looking away from the bacon in front of me.

"Wow. Alright. You really didn't have to do all of this. I mean, usually we just have cereal, or we skip breakfast altogether." Edward said, surprised.

"It's the most important meal of the day. And I like doing this. So go sit down." I said, as I put the sizzling bacon on a plate and moved to get the fruit salad I made out of the fridge.

When I got to the table, I heard Emmett coming down and got out another cup of coffee for him.

"Morning, Emmett." I said cheerily.

"Hey, kid. Wow, look at all this. Where have you been all our lives?" he joked, looking at all the food that was now spread out on the table.

We all sat down and enjoyed a really late breakfast and talked.

Once everything was done, there was a knock on the door.

"Hey, Bella, will you get that, and we'll do the dishes for you since you cooked?" Jasper asked, already collecting dirty dishes from the table.

"Alright." I said, getting up to answer the door.

I opened the door and Seth was standing there.

"Hey, Seth" I smiled.

"Hey, Bella. I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out today." he said back to me.

"Sure, yeah. I'll go ask Jasper. Come on in." I ushered him into the house and went back into the kitchen.

"Hey, Jazz, can I hang out with Seth today?" I asked.

"Uhhh... alone?" he replied, looking at Edward and Emmett for help.

"Umm... yeah. I think so. I didn't really ask, but I assumed so. It's not like we'll do anything bad. Don't you trust me?" I asked. _I'm not just going to sit around all summer and do nothing. _

"Well, umm... of coarse I trust you, but I don't really know Seth very well."

"That's alright. I don't either. My god! We're just hanging out, not going on a date or anything." I said, a little miffed that he was making such a big deal out of nothing.

"Okay, fine. But bring your cell phone." He said, looking defeated.

"Sure, sure." I yelled over my shoulder, as I walked back to where Seth was standing. I grabbed my Aeropostale bag and threw on my black high tops and was ready to go.

I stepped out into the sunny afternoon and took a deep breath.

"So," Seth began. "What do you want to do?"

**So... that's the next chapter! :) I hope that you like it. Tomorrows my birthday, so I knew that if I didn't get this up today, I wouldn't for awhile. But anyways... READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! I would love to hear what you guys think. Constructive criticism is always appreciated! Happy New Years, guys! :) **

**P.S. I'm thinking this is going to either be a BellaXPaul story or maybe a BellaXSeth story. Let me know which way you would prefer, but I'm not promising I'll go with what you say. And I'm sorry to all those Last of Summer Sun readers, because I haven't updated in forever, but I'm really just liking this one. When I think of something for that story, I'll post it ASAP. Alright. Now I think I'm done for real. Thanks for reading! PLEASE REVIEW!  
**


	10. Chapter 10

_Previously... _

_"Hey, Jazz, can I hang out with Seth today?" I asked._

_"Uhhh... alone?" he replied, looking at Edward and Emmett for help._

_"Umm... yeah. I think so. I didn't really ask, but I assumed so. It's not like we'll do anything bad. Don't you trust me?" I asked. I'm not just going to sit around all summer and do nothing. _

_"Well, umm... of coarse I trust you, but I don't really know Seth very well."_

_"That's alright. I don't either. My god! We're just hanging out, not going on a date or anything." I said, a little miffed that he was making such a big deal out of nothing._

_"Okay, fine. But bring your cell phone." He said, looking defeated._

_"Sure, sure." I yelled over my shoulder, as I walked back to where Seth was standing. I grabbed my Aeropostale bag and threw on my black high tops and was ready to go._

_I stepped out into the sunny afternoon and took a deep breath._

_"So," Seth began. "What do you want to do?"

* * *

_

BPOV

"Alright. So, we've wasted an hour and a half. Now what?" Seth asked me. We had spent our time walking around our neighborhood joking around and getting to know each other.

"I don't know. I'm new here. You tell me what there is to do around here." I repeated for the thousandth time.

"I don't know, either! I only know of things that boys would like to do.." he replied. _Oh, no he didn't just play the girl card... _

"Seth. Don't even. What do you usually do with your guy friends?" I asked annoyed now.

"Alright fine. Let me think for a minute." he got up from where we were sitting on the sidewalk and started pacing in front of me. "Oh! I know! We can go to the playground a couple blocks from here. I know it's not that cool or anything, but that's all I can think of right now. You might not even want to go to the playground. You might think it's stupid, but I've had a lot of fun there, and.." he rambled on, trailing off when he noticed the amused smile that I tried to keep hidden.

"I like playgrounds." I said simply, and stood up.

"Oh, okay, cool." Seth sounded relieved.

We started heading in the direction of the playground, and resumed our easy-going conversation.

"So, tell me more about yourself." Seth prompted.

"Wow. That's not a broad topic or anything. What do you want to know?" I asked.

"Anything you want to tell me."

"Alright. Well, I have an idea. How about you ask a question and we both have to answer it?" I suggested.

"Fine, sounds fair enough. What's your favorite color?"

"Definitely blue. What about yours?"

"I like blue, too." he said, smiling. "Your turn to ask one."

"Alright, let me think..." I trailed off, unsure about what I wanted to ask. "I know! What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"Oh, that's easy! I've wanted to be a firefighter all my life." he answered.

"Really? That's a dangerous job. What made you want to be a firefighter?"

"My Uncle Scott was a firefighter. He was my hero. I remember being, I'd say around six or seven, and I'd go to the firehouse with Scott. It was cool, because the guys really included me. Well, as much as you can include a little kid. I know it's going to be hard and dangerous, but Scott always told me stories about saving people. That's what I want to do with my life." he glanced over at me, to see if I was still paying attention. I was.

"He's not a firefighter anymore?" I asked. He gave me a confused look, so I explained. "You said he 'was a firefighter' and 'was my hero.' Did he retire or something?"

"Wow, your perceptive." he chuckled. "He actually was killed in the line of duty a couple years ago." he looked down, avoiding my eyes.

"Oh. Umm.. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked." I mumbled, feeling bad for bringing up something that obviously made him sad.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You thought you were being sly, asking me two questions in a row. Don't think I didn't notice. So it's my turn to ask, right?" he swiftly changed the subject by joking around.

"Yeah. It's your turn."

"Why did you move here?" he asked.

_Ouch._ _The one question that I did not want to answer. _

"Umm... well my parents died in a car accident, so I moved to live with my Uncle Jasper and Emmett and Edward." I answered, me now being the one avoiding eye contact. I tried to keep the tears that came every time I talked about it at bay as we made our way to the playground that was in sight now. To save myself from looking like an over-emotional fool, I quickly turned to Seth and said, "I'll race you to the swings." and took off running.

* * *

EMPOV

Edward and I sat on the couch, watching Jasper pacing.

"What if she gets hurt and I'm not there? What if he brings her to hang out with his guy friends and one of them tries to pressure her into doing something bad? Like drugs. Or drinking. Or sex. Oh god. I knew this was a bad idea. She's going to come home high, and pregnant. What are we even going to do? It's not like there is enough room in this house for the four of us, plus a newborn baby. And what if the dad wants to stay with us. Oh hell no, I'm going to kill that little fucker. The nerve of him! He can't fucking live with us! Especially not after knocking up my baby niece! We'll have to move and find a bigger house. And what if..." he rambled on and on, getting himself more and more worked up.

"Ten bucks says he's going to go find her in a half hour." Edward whispered to me, not taking his eyes off our friend as he started ranting about her hypothetical-totally-never-gonna-happen drug problem.

"You think he's gonna last that long? I say he's either going now, or not at all." I whispered back.

"Maybe we should make him stop and calm down or something. This can't be good for his health." Edward murmured quietly, looked worried. "I mean, this has to be taking years off his life."

"Yeah, alright. You gonna say something or are I?"

"You can."

_Pussy._

"Hey, Jasper. Man, I don't understand why you are getting yourself so worked up over this. Bella doesn't really seem like the peer-pressure type. I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought you said she was a really good kid." I tried to reason with him.

"I know you're right. But I mean, do you like her being out there with him?" Jasper asked.

If I was being honest, I didn't really like that she was out with a guy, either, but it was better than her sitting home with her uncle and his two friends, again. She needed to be out there making friends her own age. This Seth seemed nice enough, the few times I'd met him.

_I mean, they're just friends, right? Nothing more? He shouldn't be getting an ideas, though. That's my niece... sorta._

"No. I don't. I only met the kid, but I already feel like she's my niece. I don't like that she's already talking to boys, but I trust her. I mean, she hasn't given me a reason not to. Actually, she's been a fucking angel since she got here. I seriously don't think we have anything to worry about." I soothed.

"Yeah, maybe not on her side. But how well do we really know this Seth kid? What kind of crowed does he hang out with? What does he do in his spare time? What the fuck is he doing with our niece right now?" Jasper said.

"I hate to say it, but he's got a point. I don't think Bella is dumb enough to do anything harmful or stupid, but what about this Seth? What if he brings her to meet his friends, they get into doing something illegal, they get caught by the police. Now, she is automatically associated with doing that bad thing." Edward said from the couch. He was looking contemplative as he thought about what could really go wrong.

"Oh my god. You're right. We need to go find her right now before she gets arrested, or worse."

_Oh, for Christ's sake. _

"Why don't we just call her? We can ask her what they're doing, and pretend that we need something at the store or something." I suggested.

"Alright, yeah. That's a good idea. Why do I feel like I'm a first-time father right now?" Jasper asked, realizing how crazy he had been sounding.

"Because you sorta are. You are getting this huge responsibility thrown at you from left field, and you're just getting used to it. I think that the idea that she is yours to take care of is making you a little uptight." Edward suggested. He's always been the more logical one.

"Yeah. I just feel like I need to protect her, ya know? I don't want anything bad to happen to her. She's all I have." Jasper said, finally sitting down on the couch.

"We'll both help you protect her. It's all going to be okay. But you're wrong, you know." I said, letting myself join the sappy moment, just for a minute. "She's not all you have. You have us. You have school. You have football."

"Yeah, you're right Em. Enough of this talk. What do we 'need' her to get?" Jasper said, pulling out his phone.

"We need... milk? No. She's the one that cooks. She would know if we needed any food. Ummm... it could be like, a tool or something like that." Edward thought out loud.

"Yeah, a tool. Lets ask her to pick up a screw driver so she can walk home and poke her eye out with it." I said, sarcastically. "She's not exactly the most coordinated person." I reminded.

"Alright, then if a tool doesn't work, why don't you come up with a better excuse." Edward bit back, defensively. He and I continued to playfully argue back and forth, all the while thinking about what we could say to her.

While we were bickering, we didn't notice that Jasper had started calling her.

"Hey, Bell. It's me." he said into his phone, effectively cutting Edward off and making us both turn to look at him.

"What are you gonna say?" I whispered to him.

"Yeah, I was just wondering what you were up to and if you thought you were going to be home for dinner. I have some people that I want you to meet." Jasper said.

All three of us sat in silence as she responded.

"Oh, that sounds fun. You doin' anything illegal?" Jasper said, sounding playful, but the look on his face, and the conversation we just had told us otherwise. She responded, and then he said, "Good girl. So, I'll see you in an hour then?" Another pause. "Alright, love you too, baby girl."

And he hung up.

"God, I'm such a jackass." he said, throwing his phone down on the couch.

"Well that we already knew, but what about this time?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"This is Bella. _Bella_. Of coarse she wouldn't do anything bad or illegal. She and Seth are hanging out, just the two of them, at the public playground." he explained. "She said that they were going to hang out there for a little bit longer, and then come back here."

"Good." Edward said. "So... who are you going to have her meet?"

"Oh, um, I was thinking about calling the guys and introducing her to them. I mean, they hang out here all the time, so she needs to get used to seeing them, you know? Might as well do it now." Jasper said, picking up his phone again. "I'm going to call Peter and tell him to start calling everyone and telling them to bring some food with them."

After Jasper made some calls, he looked back at us.

"All set. They're going to be getting here soon." he said. As he was speaking, the door flew open, and all of our heads shot over to see who was here. Peter walked in, along with Garett and James.

"Hey guys. So where is this little rug-rat?" James, ever the jackass, asked.

"_Bella_," I emphasized, "is out with her friend." I informed him.

"Alright. Just wondering." and he plopped down on the couch and turned on the T.V.

_This was going to be fun.

* * *

_

**A/N: Thanks for reading! PLEASE REVIEW! Sorry it took so long to update. I don't know if it's any good, but I wanted to get an update out there. So... anyways... PLEASE REVIEW! :) **_  
_


	11. Chapter 11

Previously...

_Oh, um, I was thinking about calling the guys and introducing her to them. I mean, they hang out here all the time, so she needs to get used to seeing them, you know? Might as well do it now." Jasper said, picking up his phone again. "I'm going to call Peter and tell him to start calling everyone and telling them to bring some food with them." _

_After Jasper made some calls, he looked back at us. _

_All set. They're going to be getting here soon." he said. As he was speaking, the door flew open, and all of our heads shot over to see who was here. Peter walked in, along with Garett and James. _

_Hey guys. So where is this little rugrat?" James, ever the jackass, asked. _

_Bella," I emphasized, "is out with her friend." I informed him. _

_Alright. Just wondering." and he plopped down on the couch and turned on the T.V. _

_This was going to be fun.

* * *

_

BPOV

I've had a lot of fun, Seth! Thanks for hanging out with me today. I thought I was going to go crazy if I was stuck with my three uncles any longer." I laughed out, as we headed back to our houses.

I can imagine," he chuckled. "I don't think I could stand hanging out with my mom any longer, either."

Oh, but your mom seems cool." I told him.

Yeah, she's actually pretty cool. But I just don't want to spend my summer with her, ya know? Not exactly my idea of fun." he joked.

I totally get it. That's alright, though. You won't have to worry about spending the summer with your mom, anymore." I told him, matter-of-factly.

Oh?" he smiled glancing in my direction.

Yeah. I mean, if we're going to be bored out of our minds, might as well be bored together, right?" I reasoned.

I see where you're coming from. I agree. It's a deal then. Whenever I'm bored, you have to come over and entertain me, and whenever you're bored, I have to entertain you." he laughed.

We were walking into my driveway now. "Alright, cool." We saw that there were a bunch of cars in my drive way.

_Hmm... I wonder who's here... _

I smiled at him before walking ahead and going up the stairs. "Hey, do you want to come inside?" I asked, looking over my shoulder as I opened the front door.

Seth paused for a moment, and then shook his head. "Nah, I better be getting home. I promised my mom I'd help her move some boxes today."

Oh, alright. Well, I guess I'll see you later then." I replied, smiling as Seth waved and headed over to his house.

I walked in the house and the first thing that I noticed was the noise. I quickly took off my shoes and followed the noise into the living room.

_Holy crap.

* * *

_

EPOV

While we waited for Bella to come home, all of us guys hung out in the living room watching a baseball game.

"Umm... hello?" we heard a confused Bella say.

"Hey, Bell. I told you I wanted to introduce you to some people." Jasper said to her, leaving his spot on the couch.

"Yeah, I know you did. But, to be honest, I thought you were just calling to see what I was doing." She answered truthfully, making Emmett and I smirk.

"Well, that was just a bonus. Come on, baby girl. I'll introduce you to everyone. Bella, this is the team. Guys, this is my niece Bella." Jasper said, beaming proudly. You could tell that he loved Bella.

"Hey, Bella. It's nice to meet you. I'm Peter." Peter said, also leaving the couch to shake Bella's hand.

"Hi, Peter. Nice to meet you too." Bella responded politely.

"Alright, ready for this, kid? This is Mike, Tyler, Ben, Peter, Garrett, Austin, Eric, Fred, James, Laurent, Levi, Liam, Nahuel, Phil, Riley, and Stefan." Emmett told her, pointing to each person as he told her the names. "This is just some of the team. The ones that will be hanging out here the most." he explained.

"Wow. That's a lot of people. Alright, let's see if I can get this right." Bella said, looking around the room. I sat there and watched in amazement as she went around the room, saying each of the guys names.

"Impressive, Bella." Peter smirked and sat back down on the couch.

"Thanks." she smiled and headed into the kitchen. "I'm going to make dinner. Are you all staying?"

There was a chorus of yes's and yes please's as Bella got to work cooking.

"Hmm... not really what I was expecting." James commented, casting a long glance towards the kitchen before turning his attention back to the t.v.

Emmett, Jasper, and I shared a look.

_That went better than we expected. _

"She seems sweet." Garrett said, Peter nodded his head in agreement. "Very polite. And damn! How did she even remember all of our names? I can't even remember all our names, sometimes!" he joked.

"Yeah. That was pretty impressive. And she knows how to cook?" Ben added in.

"Not only does she know to cook, she is awesome at it! I feel bad for her having to cook all you shits food, though. Maybe I'll go see if she needs some help." Emmett bragged to them, as he got up to help Bella.

"Aww look at that big old softie. Since when do you know how to cook?" Riley joked.

"That's a very valid point, but whatever. Maybe I'll get to help taste test it." and with that, Emmett disappeared into the kitchen.

Ben, Riley, and Peter just chuckled.

* * *

BPOV

"Hey, kid. You need any help?" Emmett asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Uhhh... Emmett?" I looked at him quizzically.

"Yeah?"

"Umm... do you know how to cook?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Oh, ha ha. Yes, I do know how to cook, thank you very much. I make a mean bowl of cereal, thank you very much." he said with a straight face.

I started giggling, as I looked through the freezer. "Sorry, Em. I'm sure you do." I tried to comfort.

"I guess I can forgive you." he joked.

"Good. So, I guess I do need your help." I said, turning to face him. He looked a little bit surprised.

"Oh. Well, okay. What do you need help with?" he asked, walking over to lean on the counter.

"What should I make?" I asked him. "There is a lot of people, and I don't know what they all like. Should I make Shepard's Pie? Or maybe Chicken Pot Pie? In those big pans that are in the cupboard. Yeah. I'll make one of each. Shepard's Pie takes like, ten minutes to make, and then the Chicken Pot Pie won't take too long, either." I thought out loud.

"Bell, that's really sweet, but we can seriously just order in, if you want." Emmett offered.

"Nah. I like cooking. And I bet you always order in, yes?" he nodded his head in confirmation. "That's not good for you. I really don't mind." I assured.

"Well, okay. But if you change your mind, just call up Pizza Palace." he said.

"Alright." I said, turning to get started on dinner. I was cooking the hamburg for the Shepard's Pie when I noticed that Emmett was still in the kitchen. "Do you need something?" I asked him.

"No." he replied.

"Okay. You can go back to the living room, you know. I don't mind." I told him truthfully.

"Are you sure? I don't mind keeping you company." he said, glancing between me and the T.V.

"I'm sure. I'm not much company when I cook, anyways. I'm going to just put on my iPod soon."

"Okay. Just yell if you need something." And with that, he turned and walked back into the living room with all the guys.

I loved listening to music while I cooked. I was chopping, and stirring, and dancing around the kitchen, when I realized I wasn't alone. I put the Chicken Pot Pie in the oven, and I whirled around to get the Shepard's Pie, and I ran smack into someones chest.

I fell backwards, and bent my arms back to catch myself, and then I felt a searing pain in my arms. I laid there, resting my lower arms on the oven door trying to get up. There was someone in my way.

"MOVE!" I yelled.

James noticed that I was burning myself, and quickly scrambled out of my way.

It might have something to do with the fact that I was kicking, too.

I didn't even notice that I had tears running down my face as I hauled myself up and ran over to the sink. I turned on the water, making it really cold, and put both my arms under it.

By then, Jasper, Edward, Emmett, and a few of the guys were standing in the door way trying to make sense of the cluster-fuck that was going down.

"What the hell?" Garrett asked.

"Will you put the Shepard's Pie in the oven, please?" I asked before I started bawling.

"Baby girl, what just happened?" Jasper asked, rushing to my side.

"... I ... I ... I fell. ...And ... I ... burned... my... arms..." I finally managed to get out between sobs.

"Oh, Baby girl. Let me see." he said, as he carefully turned my arms over under the water, examining them. "Oh my god! What did you do? Just leave them resting on there?" he asked, horrified by the color my arms were turning.

"I don't know. Put the other pie in the oven, please. And don't let them burn. Cook them for half an hour, or until their golden brown." I spouted off to Edward.

"Alright, Bella. I'll put the other pie in the oven." he said calmly.

"Dude! How can you even think about the damn pies right now?" Emmett hissed to Edward.

"Em, she's in shock right now. It's best to just keep her calm." he replied lowly.

_Was I in shock? Hmm... yes. I would say I was pretty damn shocked. _

"Bella, I think we need to get you to the emergency room to treat these burns." Peter said, not taking his eyes off my arm. It was a very angry red, and it hurt a lot.

"Does it hurt?" Garrett asked, carefully, as he grabbed ice packs from the freezer.

"Like a bitch." I mumbled under my breath, as I got escorted to the car by Jasper and Emmett. "Wait! Someone needs to stay with the pies. I'm not going through all of this to have the damn pies burn." I bit out, as Jasper, Edward, Emmett, Peter, Garrett, and I piled into the car.

"Language, Isabella." Jasper said, halfheartedly from the drivers seat.

"Bella, I'll watch dinner and make sure to take them out when the timer goes off." Assured Riley as he shut the door to the van.

"Thanks, Riley." I said appreciatively. "Wait. Whose car is this?" I asked, looking at the unfamiliar car that was now backing out of the driveway.

"Oh, this is my van." Peter said from shot gun. I was sitting in the middle seat with Emmett and Garrett, with Edward in the back.

"Oh, alright. Well it's a very nice car." I said, trying to be polite.

"Thanks." He smiled at me. I tried to smile back, but with the pain, I'm sure it looked more like a grimace.

I didn't really pay attention to anything else on the way to the hospital. I was focused solely on not screaming out in pain.

_It hurts! _

I'm not exactly new to pain and hospitals, but still. I had never felt like my skin was literally burning off of me.

I found everything getting really blurry and knew that I was going to pass out. I lay my head on Emmett's shoulder, so that I wouldn't hit my head on anything.

_Like I said. I'm not new to this. _

Then everything went black.

* * *

The next thing I was aware of was being carried through cold air. It felt great on my arm, but the rest of me was cold. I shivered, moving in closer to whoever was carrying me.

"Excuse me? My niece burned herself on the stove, and then she passed out on the way over here. Can I have some help please?" I heard Jasper say in a seemingly calm voice. But I knew him better. He was freaking out.

"Oh, my! I'll page a doctor right away." I heard a soft female voice say.

Then I slipped back into the darkness.

* * *

"She should be waking up anytime now." I heard an unfamiliar voice say.

"Alright. And her arms? Are they okay?" Edward asked.

"Yes, her arms should be fine. They were second degree burns, so she must have been leaning on them in the oven. Do we know why she had them there to begin with?" The male voice, who I'm assuming was the doctor, said.

"No. We'll have to ask when she wakes up." Emmett said.

I opened my eyes and saw Jasper's face huddled right over mine.

"Déjà vu." I mumbled, looking at him.

"I know, right?" Jasper tried to joke, but his facial expression held no humor, just relief and concern.

"Damn, B. I didn't know we'd end up in the hospital already! I mean, Jasper told us you were clumsy, but really? Already!" Emmett joked, also looking relieved.

"Yeah, sorry, Em. I tried to hold off as long as I could." I chuckled and joked back.

Edward, Jasper, Emmett, and the doctor all laughed along with me.

"Hello, Isabella. My name is Carlisle Cullen. I understand that you're my new neighbor?" the doctor stepped forward and introduced himself.

"It's just Bella, actually. And yeah, I am." I smiled.

"Alright, well Bella. Would you like to tell me how you burned yourself?" Dr. Cullen asked, looking at me.

As I recounted what happened, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward kept looking more and more pissed off.

"What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?" Emmett asked through clenched teeth.

_Question of the freaking day.

* * *

_

**A/N****: Sorry it's taken so long to update. Been busy. I had this chapter half-finished for the longest time, but I didn't like where it would have left off, so I just put off writing it. Anyways... hope that it lived up to your expectations. Sorry if you didn't like it. I would love to know your thoughts on why James was in the kitchen... ;) Please Please PLEASE review! Thanks for reading! :) **_  
_


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry that it took so long to update, I had Jasper's part of this story typed for awhile, but that was it, and it seemed like a weird spot to pick up, so I did some creative thinking and changed it around a little. I just want to apologize in advanced, because I know some people don't like hearing the same events in different POV's, but I didn't know what else to do, and thought it would be a sweet thing to do to get where we really want to be. :) Read and review, please! :) **

* * *

_Previously... _

"_Alright, well Bella. Would you like to tell me how you burned yourself?" Dr. Cullen asked, looking at me. _

_As I recounted what happened, Jasper, Emmett, and Edward kept looking more and more pissed off. _

"_What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?" Emmett asked through clenched teeth. _

_Question of the freaking day. _

* * *

EMPOV

"Are you sure? I don't mind keeping you company." I said, looking between her and the T.V. I sorta wanted to hang out with the guys, but I felt bad leaving her alone. She was cooking for us, after all.

"I'm sure. I'm not much company when I cook, anyways. I'm going to just put on my iPod soon." she responded, moving around the kitchen like a pro.

"Okay. Just yell if you need something." I walked back into the living room where the guys were watching the game. I glanced back over my shoulder, to see Bella dancing around the kitchen, expertly throwing together a meal probably better than one from a resturant.

The game was getting really intense, and we were all sitting at the edge of our seats when we heard a scream from the kitchen.

"MOVE!" Bella yelled.

_Shit._

I jumped off the couch and booked it into the kitchen in time to see Bella cranking the cold water on and putting her arms under the running water. There were tears streaming down her face, and James was standing by watching.

_What the fuck happened? _

I heard noise behind me and noticed that Jasper, Edward, Garrett, Peter, and Riley were standing there. None of us spoke as we took in the scene playing out in front of us.

Garrett was the first one to find his voice.

"What the hell?"

_Yeah! What he said! _

"Will you put the Shepard's Pie in the oven, please?" Bella asked before she burst into loud sobs.

"Baby girl, what just happened?" Jasper ran towards her, looking slightly hysterical.

"... I …. I … I fell. ...And … I …. burned... my... arms..." she finally choked out. Her sobs were heartbreaking. Edward, Garrett, Riley, and I exchanged a look and I knew we all agreed.

"Oh, Baby girl. Let me see." Jasper said, as he looked over her burns.

I just caught a glimpse of them, but I could tell that it was more than just a little burn you get from touching the stove quickly.

"Oh my god! What did you do? Just leave them resting on there?" he asked, seeing the same thing that I did.

"I don't know. Put the other pie in the oven, please. And don't let them burn. Cook them for half an hour, or until their golden brown." she said to Edward, still bawling, but coherent enough to get out a full sentence.

"Alright, Bella. I'll put the other pie in the oven." he said calmly.

_Are you fucking kidding me? Bella's hurt and he's thinking about dinner? _

"Dude! How can you even think about the damn pies right now?" I hissed furiously to Edward.

"Em, she's in shock right now. It's best to just keep her calm." he replied under her breath.

_Oh. I guess that makes sense... _

"Bella, I think we need to get you to the emergency room to treat these burns." Peter said, still looking at the ugly burns on her arm.

"Does it hurt?" Garrett asked, as he grabbed ice packs from the freezer.

_Dumb question. _

"Like a bitch." she mumbled under her breath as Jasper and I led her out to the car. "Wait!" she screeched making us all stop in our tracks. "Someone needs to stay with the pies. I'm not going through all of this to have the damn pies burn." She said irritably.

We all continued to pile into Peter's van while Jasper reprimanded her. "Language, Isabella."

_Really? Right now he's worried about her language?_

I turned and shared a look with Edward.

"I think Jasper's in shock a little bit, too." he whispered to me. _  
_

"Bella, I'll watch dinner and make sure to take them out when the timer goes off." Riley assured calmly as he shut the door.

"Thanks, Riley." Bella said. "Wait. Whose car is this?" Bella asked, looking a little disoriented.

"This is my van." Peter informed her from his seat.

"Oh, alright. Well it's a very nice car." Even in pain, Bella was polite.

"Thanks." Peter said, smiling at her sweetness.

"So, Bella, what exactly happened? Edward asked from behind us.

Everyone except Jasper, who was driving, looked at her expectantly. She looked really pale and was staring off into space, bitting her lip.

After that, we all just sat in silence as we made our way to the hospital.

We were about ten minutes out when Bella put her head on my shoulder and I felt her body slump. I turned to look down at her.

_Oh god, no! Please no! This cannot be happening!_

"Jasper, step on the fucking gas. She's passed out now." I said, trying not to let my panic seep into my voice, but knowing all the same that it was a lost cause.

"Shit!" Jasper said, slamming his hand against the wheel and stepping on the gas.

I know that Bella isn't really technically related to me, but I already loved her.

I pulled Bella into my lap and stroked her hair, trying to make her more comfortable.

_If she could even feel it. _

"Bella, please please don't do this." I whispered into her hair, hoping that she could hear me. "I just got you. Please please don't do this."

By this time, we were pulling into the hospital. Jasper jumped out of the drivers seat, ignoring the lady telling him that he wasn't aloud to park there. Peter got out and moved the van while we all rushed in. Bella shivered and buried her face in my chest.

_Thank god! At least she's moving. _

"Excuse me? My niece burned herself on the stove, and then she passed out on the way over here. Can I have some help please?" Jasper said in a fake calm voice. I knew he was secretly overwhelmed and breaking down. I knew that because I was in the same place.

The older lady took one look at Bella who looked ghostly pale, almost like a corpse, and her eyes widened. "Oh my! I'll page a doctor right away." she said softly, as she quickly pushed some buttons.

_Well that's comforting.. _

We stood in the empty Emergency Room for a couple of minutes before a nurse came to get us.

"Finally! We've been waiting here forever!" I yelled, annoyed that they weren't taking this seriously. Bella was still unconscious and her arms were hot against my skin.

I followed Jasper and Edward into an exam room, while Garrett opted to wait in the waiting room with Peter.

"What's going on?" I demanded laying Bella down on the examination table.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Cullen, I live next door. Let me just have a look at her." the doctor said.

_That's why he looks familiar. _

I stood against the wall next to Edward and Jasper who were just as anxious as I was. We watched silently as Dr. Cullen looked Bella over and cleaned and dressed the burns on her arms.

"It looks to me like Bella passed out from pain. She should be waking up anytime now. I'll give her this IV of pain medicine just to take the sting off." Dr. Cullen told us after he finished his examination and put a needle into her arm. We all moved to hover over her.

"Alright. And her arms? Are they okay?" Edward asked.

"Yes, her arms should be fine. They were second degree burns, so she must have been leaning on them in the oven. Do we know why she had them there to begin with?" he asked us, looking at us suspiciously.

"No." I said curtly. "We'll have to ask when she wakes up."

Bella slowly opened her eyes and blinked a few times to adjust to the light.

"Déjà vu." she mumbled trying to lighten the mood.

"I know, right?" Jasper tried to joke but it fell flat because he was so obviously relieved.

_We all were. _

"Damn, B. I didn't know we'd end up in the hospital already! I mean, Jasper told us you were clumsy, but really? Already!" I also tried to lighten the mood, but was half serious. I was going to start getting gray hairs if she kept scaring me like that. I had felt so helpless looking at her little body so pale and lifeless.

"Yeah, sorry, Em. I tried to hold off as long as I could." she chuckled, making us all laugh along with her.

"Hello, Isabella. My name is Carlisle Cullen. I understand that you're my new neighbor?" Dr. Cullen introduced himself.

"It's just Bella, actually. And yeah, I am." she smiled back, already looking a lot better.

_Must be the pain meds. _

"Alright, well Bella. Would you like to tell me how you burned yourself?" Dr. Cullen asked.

We stood there and listened as Bella recounted what happened.

_James just stood there and watched as she burned herself, only moving when she started kicking and yelling? _

_What. The. Fuck. _

I voiced what was going through all of our heads.

"What the hell was he doing in the kitchen?"

* * *

JPOV

Being back in the hospital with Bella again was a fucking nightmare. She didn't have to stay overnight this time, but when she said "déjà vu," she wasn't kidding. I kept thinking back to that first day, when I first saw her after the accident.

When she told us what happened in the kitchen, I was pissed. What the fuck was James doing that close to my niece? That sounds so sketchy, especially because I know him.

He is the kind of guy that a girl's daddy warns her about. He's the guy that doesn't really care about the feelings of girls, as long as they'll have him. He would fuck anything with a vagina.

But kids? I don't think even he'd go that far. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions.

Yeah, that's it. James Hunter is a creep, but I don't think that he's a pedophile.

_If I only knew. _

* * *

**A/N:**** Alright. So there's chapter 12. I don't know if it's any good, I just wanted to get something out there. And again, I want to apologize for just doing the same thing in a different POV, and I'll try not to do it too often, but I'm just trying to move the story along a little bit so we can get to the good stuff :) Please let me know what you think if you love it, hate it, just REVIEW please! :D **_  
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	13. Chapter 13

_Previously… _

_Being back in the hospital with Bella again was a fucking nightmare. She didn't have to stay overnight this time, but when she said "déjà vu," she wasn't kidding. I kept thinking back to that first day, when I first saw her after the accident._

_When she told us what happened in the kitchen, I was pissed. What the fuck was James doing that close to my niece? That sounds so sketchy, especially because I know him._

_He is the kind of guy that a girl's daddy warns her about. He's the guy that doesn't really care about the feelings of girls, as long as they'll have him. He would fuck anything with a vagina._

_But kids? I don't think even he'd go that far. Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions._

_Yeah, that's it. James Hunter is a creep, but I don't think that he's a pedophile._

_If I only knew._

* * *

EDPOV

It's been a month since the "oven incident" as we're calling it. Everything has been pretty normal.

Besides when Jasper punched James in the face.

And when Emmett punched James in the face.

And when I punched James in the face.

As you can tell, James took quite the beating for what went down in the kitchen, even though we still don't know exactly what happened. He always spouts off some bullshit about being really hungry.

Whatever.

Moving on.

One other minor abnormality was that we had a fourteen year old living with us. Barely counts as not normal, though, because she fits into our lives so seamlessly. She has a great sense of humor, and all the guys love her to death.

Oh, another thing that isn't normal is that Seth and Bella are getting really close. They hang out all the time, and it pisses Emmett off.

And that's why we find ourselves here.

At the moment, Jasper and Emmett are trying to convince Bella to go to the all-girl Catholic school just around the corner.

So, yeah.

Normal.

"I'm not freaking Catholic!" Bella argued again.

"That's okay! They take anyone! And I think it would be good for you not to have distractions." Jasper soothed, really hoping it would work the tenth time he said it.

"I don't want to go!" she yelled, getting frustrated now.

"What do you have against Catholics?" Emmett asked, being the smart ass that he was.

"Absolutely nothing. I have no problems with any religion, I just don't want to go to that school. Can't I just go to the same school as Seth?" she begged.

"No, I just think you should be branching out and making new friends." Jasper tried to reason with her.

"Fine." Bella said shortly and promptly stomped up the stairs into her room.

"Bell! Come on! Be reasonable!" Jasper yelled after her.

The only response he got was a slammed door.

Lovely.

"Wow. You are right. She was _totally _thrilled about that. It went exactly according to plan. Great job, guys." I deadpanned.

"Alright smartass. What would you have done differently?" Emmett grumbled.

"First of all, I wouldn't have started out the conversation with 'you're going to the all-girls school.' I would have asked her what she thought about it." I stated simply.

"And you didn't come up with this plan before because…" Jasper trailed off looking frustrated with me.

"You brought this on yourselves. You knew this wasn't going to go over well with her." I said, standing up from my spot in the recliner chair. "I'll go talk to her."

"Thanks." Jasper and Emmett both mumbled after me.

As I headed up the two flights of stairs, I realized that this was the first time that we had ever fought. Bella is so chill and has such a good temper about everything, it was really weird seeing her lose it like that.

Not that she's not entitled to meltdowns and freak outs every now and then.

The past month has been way different than anything I imagined. I'll admit when I first heard we were going to be living with a fourteen year old girl, I definitely didn't think it could turn out well. I pictured us having to deal with temper tantrums all the time and a bitter kid who didn't want to be with us.

"Bell?" I called through the door, wrapping my knuckles on the wooden frame.

"What."

"Can you please open the door?" I asked gently.

"It's unlocked."

Well I guess that's a start. I turned the door knob and opened the door. In the room, I saw Bella laying on her back on the floor, right next to the bed.

"Is there any particular reason that you are on the floor, rather than the ridiculously comfortable bed not two feet from it?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. It paid off and I was rewarded with a smile that she tried to hide. "Ah, there we go. Much better." I smiled back at her.

"So. School." I started and she sighed. "Why don't you want to go to the Catholic school so badly?"

"I don't really care anymore. But I mean, I wanted to go to the same school as Seth so that I would know at least one person. I hate being the new girl." She told me, sitting up from her spot.

"Well I guess I could see that. But you're going to be the new girl no matter what school you go to. Yeah, it might be nice to be able to hang out with Seth, but don't you think you're going to want to make your own friends too?" I reasoned.

"Yeah I guess. I didn't mean to get so ugly about it. I was just really pissed off that they were just telling me that I had to go to that school, like I had no say in the matter." she ranted, standing up and starting to clean up her room.

I noticed that she did that whenever she got stressed or upset.

She cleaned.

Or baked.

She told us that when she was in kindergarten and her first crush told her that she was yucky and had cooties, she went home and made brownies with her mom. And when her dad was away in Iraq, she made breads and tarts and truffles all the time. It just made her feel better. Like she was doing something productive.

Whatever.

Emmett didn't have a problem with it. Actually, none of the guys did.

"You're right. They shouldn't have just told you that. We should have talked about it calmly like we are right now." I agreed

"Yeah. I should probably go apologize, shouldn't I?" She asked, placing her last pile of clothes in the hamper.

"Only if you think you should." I told her, getting up and walking out of the room.

My dad used to say that kind of thing to me all the time, and it used to piss me off so much. But now I sorta get where he's coming from. You shouldn't just apologize because someone told you to. You have to want to apologize for it to be sincere.

It's weird how my brain has started to work now, and I think I'm speaking for Jasper and Emmett when I say this, too. It's not all about me anymore, which is weird. Things that I felt didn't make any sense when I was a kid, I'm really starting to understand.

Like whenever I would go to a friends house to play, my mom would want to know where I was. I thought it was completely ridiculous at the time, but with Bella, we always want to know where she is. I mean, we don't like, stock her like we did in the beginning, but we still want to know that she's safe.

I kept walking into the kitchen, but smiled when I heard Bella talking to Emmett and Jasper in the living room.

_I think I'm catching on to this._

* * *

**A/N**_: _**Hey... so it's been awhile, I know... and this chapter sorta sucks, I know... but I just wanted to put what I had up before my life got crazy busy again and I lost my chance. So really sorry. Thanks for being so patient with me. Please please review! Thanks! **_  
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	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: Heyyyy sooo... sorry about not updating in so long. I haven't really had time.. or ideas... soo this is the best I could come up with. I know it's another filler chapter, but it was pretty fun to write and I am hoping this will just get me back into the swing of things. Happy 2012!**_

* * *

_Previously... _

_It's weird how my brain has started to work now, and I think I'm speaking for Jasper and Emmett when I say this, too. It's not all about me anymore, which is weird. Things that I felt didn't make any sense when I was a kid, I'm really starting to understand. _

_Like whenever I would go to a friends house to play, my mom would want to know where I was. I thought it was completely ridiculous at the time, but with Bella, we always want to know where she is. I mean, we don't like, stock her like we did in the beginning, but we still want to know that she's safe. _

_I kept walking into the kitchen, but smiled when I heard Bella talking to Emmett and Jasper in the living room. _

_I think I'm catching on to this._

* * *

BPOV

Oh. My. Hell.

Why is this my life?

I cannot believe after everything I've been through, this is happening to me right now.

As a last ditch effort to save my sanity, I checked the cupboards one last time.

_No tampons. No pads. Nothing. _

Dammit!

I folded up some toilet paper and put it in my underwear.

_Give me a break. It's all I have... _

God this sucks. Now the toilet paper is falling apart up _there _and my only other option is to go downstairs and ask my uncles for tampons.

FML. FML. FML. FML. FML.

Alright. I'm really going to do this.

I slowly made my way down the stairs, and into the living room, trying not to move my legs too far apart.

_The toilet paper was such a bad idea... _

Which one to ask...

Well I would just about die if I asked Emmett so he's out. Jasper is farthest away so that leaves...

"Hey Bell, you need something?" Edward asked, looking over from his spot on the couch. It was team bonding night so the whole team was sitting in the living room watching football.

_Perfect. _

"Umm... yeah actually. Can I talk to you for a minute?" I asked motioning my head towards the kitchen so we could talk privately.

I watched as all the guys exchanged looks. Emmett and Jasper both looked really concerned. _Oh god I hope he doesn't tell them. _

"Sure." Edward said, getting right up and leading me into the kitchen.

FML. FML. FML. FML. FML.

"What's up B? Everything alright?" Edward asked nervously.

"Uh yeah sorta." I replied willing myself just to spit it out.

"Okay well do you want to clue me in on what's up, because you're kind of freaking me out." he half-joked, but I could tell that he was a little bit serious.

Ever since I agreed to go to that all-girls school in the fall, everyone has been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Which makes me feel guilty as hell. I didn't mean to be a brat about something as insignificant as where I'm going to go to school, but I really didn't see why I couldn't just go with Seth. But it is a really good school, and with all my uncles are doing for me, it's the least I can do. So after that whole argument, I ended up being enrolled in St Mary's School for Girls. Can't freaking wait.

Anyway. Back to the task at hand.

"Right. I umm... Ineedsometampons." I rushed out, blushing and feeling like disappearing into the ground.

"Excuse me?" Edward asked, confused.

_Oh my god he wants me dead._

To his credit, he honestly did look clueless. It was obvious that he really hadn't heard me. Okay. Take two.

"I umm... was wondering if you could pick me up some... tampons." I said more confidently. It didn't help my beet red face, though.

He heard me that time. Edward's face turned bright red as well, and he started stammering.

"Wha... uhh.. sure.. are you... ummm...?" he didn't really know what to say.

"So... if you could just get me some regular Tampax Sport, that would be awesome." I said calmly, getting less embarrassed and more amused.

_He honestly doesn't know what to do with himself. _

"Right.. okay... be right back..." he mumbled ducking his head and grabbing his wallet from the kitchen counter.

_That wasn't as awful as I thought it was going to be. _

"Bella! Why did Edward sort of look like he was going to pass out?" Emmett yelled from the living room.

I walked into the room and saw 18 curious faces looking back at me.

_Shit._

* * *

EDPOV

Walking out of the kitchen and past the guys, I might have mumbled something about going out before escaping to my car where I could regroup in private.

_Fucking tampons. _

I have never in my life been more mortified.

But I can also tell that it was hard for Bella to ask for them, so I felt a little bad for reacting how I did.

_But honestly? Why me? _

Pulling into the closest parking spot at the grocery store, I stepped out and made my way into the store.

_Alright. Go in. Get the tampons. Get out._

I walked in all gung-ho about completing the task and getting the hell out, but as I made my way to the isle, I just couldn't do it.

I quickly made a detour into the cookie isle, which was the closest one I could find, and decided to get Bella some cookies.

_I mean, girls like that on their period right? I mean, who doesn't love Oreos? _

After I procrastinated around the store, trying to think of just about anything else we could possibly need in the next two years, I didn't have a choice but to get what I had came here for.

I got into the isle and started looking for the ones that Bella had asked for. As I was looking at the billions of options—seriously? Who needs that many options? Don't they all just do the same thing?—I ran into another guy who looked just as miserable as I felt.

"Girlfriend?" he asked, taking a look at what I had in my cart.

"Niece." I replied. "You?"

"Little sister."

"Ahh.. you have any clue what to get?" I questioned, hoping to get some insight on what the difference was. They all legitimately look exactly the same to me.

"Nah dude. They all look the same." the guy voiced my thoughts.

"Alright. I'm getting these." I said grabbing a random package that read "tampon" and "regular" and that's all I needed. "And you.. are getting them too." I picked up another package and put it in his cart.

"Thanks." he nodded at me.

"Sure." I said and walked away.

_I think that guy just saved me._

I was not sure I was going to be able to buy tampons for the first time and still have some dignity left, but it wasn't _that _awful. I mean, at least I'm not alone.

As I was checking out, I got a lot of sympathetic looks from the other male customers and employees that saw what I was buying.

"Aww that's so sweet. Who are you here for?" the older lady behind the counter asked me, taking in all my supplies.

"My niece." I answered shortly, ready to just be out of there.

"She's lucky to have such a good uncle." she said.

"Thanks."

When I got back home, I grabbed the bags full of stuff. I had bought: Oreos, a magazine that Bella might like, Lindt chocolates, Ibuprofen, different kinds of chips for the guys, and finally the tampons.

I made sure to rearrange the bags so that all of Bella's stuff was in two bags and our stuff was in two.

_I want to make this as painless as possible for all parties involved. _

I walked into the house, and saw Bella walking my way. I couldn't make eye contact with her, I mean, I had just bought her something that she was going to stick _up her vagina._

_Urgh! Do not think about it. Do not even go there. I bought her snacks and a magazine. That's it. Nothing else. It's fine. _

I handed her her bags and kept walking with mine into the living room.

"I got food." was all I said, tossing the bags onto the coffee table.

I watched in horror as the guys pulled out first the magazine, then the Oreos and the chocolates and the painkillers.

I knew what was coming next.

_Oh shit. _

"EDWARD!"

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed more Bella/Edward moments. It always seems to be Bella and Edward when things get awkward. First when they met and now... well what can I say? :P Don't ya just hate it when you start your period at the most inconvenient times? Any stories? PLEASE REVIEW! :)  
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